Rainier Grocery Outlet recovering after flood damage

RAINIER — Grocery Outlet Bargain Market — Rainier’s only provider of fresh meat and produce — is almost done with repairs a week after a flash flood washed out a small portion of its parking lot.

The store was closed Feb. 12-16 after heavy rain overnight caused Fox Creek to overflow and flood a two-block area of downtown. The grocery store, located along Columbia River Highway, resumed normal hours on Sunday in what felt like a “another grand opening,” said owner Taylor Elliott.

Elliott said the store’s five-day closure was a blow to business, but sales bounced back Sunday and Monday when customers began restocking their pantries.

Elliott said the west end of the parking lot remains closed where the rush out of Fox Creek washed it away. But the fencing should be gone by Friday.

“It will be completely repaired (Thursday) or Friday,” Elliott said. “We already did the fill-in and pouring and redesigned it so a washout won’t happen again.”

Elliott declined to share the cost of repairs to the parking lot.

He said the store interior never got flooded, and that may have been because the erosion to the parking lot let water drain away before it could rise into the premises.

“It was like pulling a drain plug on the parking lot … it was a good thing (for the store),” Elliott said.