The building at 635 Pacific Blvd. SW, empty since last summer and photographed on Feb. 20, 2026, has the iconic Safeway roofline of the 1960s.
The former West Albany Safeway supermarket may not be empty much longer. A nonprofit ministry, Adult and Teen Challenge Pacwest, says it has signed a lease for the building and plans to move its Albany thrift store there.
I got word of this development Friday in a message from Josh Howard, the chief financial officer of Teen Challenge Pacwest. “In total,” he told me in an email, “we have 18 residential programs, outpatient facilities, and eight thrift stores across six western states.”
The present Teen Challenge thrift store at 310 Second Ave. SE is to be closed when the new one opens on Pacific. Howard expects the change to take place in the spring or early summer.
“All staff members will be retained and we will need to increase the staffing to accommodate the larger store,” Howard wrote. “We also have volunteers. Participants in the residential program also get vocational training at the thrift store. We have an entire vocational training program as part of the comprehensive approach to recovery at our residential program.”
The thrift store property on Second Avenue is owned by the First Baptist Church of Albany. The property on Pacific is owned by the Kampfer family of Harrisburg.
The store was built for Safeway in 1966. Safeway closed it in 1999 when it moved to its current Albany location off 14th Avenue SE. Most recently the building was occupied by I-5 Sports, which sold all-terrain vehicles and closed last spring.
For years residents in West Albany hoped that a supermarket might reopen there some day, filling the building’s 30,000 square feet with the necessities of daily life in a convenient spot, easy to reach even on foot.
It hasn’t happened yet. And given the economics of modern supermarkets, chances are it never will. (hh)
The Teen Challenge thrift store at Second and Montgomery, seen Friday, is to be closed when the new one is ready.
I always heard that Safeway was able to block any grocery store from moving in there.
Never had any proof though.
Bummer. We really could use a small grocery store on this side of town.
Good to see this!
What a wonderful happening for our community! Empty buildings are such an eyesore and everyone needs a thrift store to turn in unneeded items that still have years in them. Also, who doesn’t need a bargain, any day and time? And, speaking at thrift stores, have you visited a Super Thrift? These thrift stores run by the Teen Challenge are efficient and offer many good deals. And, if you are dropping off items, you are greeted with helping hands and arms and great smiles by the volunteer helpers who work at the store. I love and frequently visit the Super Thrift in Lebanon and will also be stopping at this new location in Albany.
Thank you for your support of our Superthrift stores!
With all of the new housing in that area, a “thrift” store is not an answer.
That area needs a grocery store. The city is just not working hard enough to attract one.
I’ll bite… What exactly would you have the city “do” to entice a grocery store to that area of town? The stores/entities do their due diligence and then make plans accordingly…
Maybe some of the free money being thrown to people trying to get them to build downtown where only a small portion of the citizens go should instead go to west and south side developer incentives.
It’s called corporate WELFARE, Ray. laughing out loud
Interesting. Then, considering its success, I’ll suggest we could use a helluva lot more of it!
Come on ray I’ll bite. City has a very well paid economic development director that should be out promoting areas in Albany to bring more needed commerce, but you know this , as you were Albanys prominent and smartest liberal counsel person
West Albany need a food store not a thrift store. There is no place to shop unless you drive across town.
I’m all for Teen Challenge and I wish their thrift store the best. But yes, West Albany needs a larger grocery store for this area. Surprises me how Corvallis, not all that larger than Albany, can support three Safeway’s but Albany only one?
The old Safeway was THE grocery store in town when it was built (early 60s). It had EVERYTHING at a time when most grocery stores were 1/10 to 1/3 the size (Richey’s, Cecil’s Market, Piggly Wiggly, etc). Grocery stores just kept getting larger.
Unfortunately, the only type of business that can survive in this dump of a state. A nonprofit that depends on donations. A for-profit business has a hard time surviving here.
Instead of getting on here, complaining about what you want there, you all better start voting differently
Right. Your vote (voting) DOES matter! However, if OR is such a “dump ot a state,” why is the population increasing and new businesses opening regularly?
If you can sell a ranch style dump in California for a million plus, and can get away from Newsoms dump, then come up here and get four times what you had, and stupid enough to ruin it too, why not?
The smart ones move to Idaho or Montana. The dumb ones stop here.
Once again your out of touch with reality
I am glad I am not the only one who has watched the disintegration of Oregon and what once made it great. Oregon was an evenly balanced state, politically, 60 years ago, with Democrats required to listen to Republicans and vice versa. As a result, life stayed balanced with nothing radical happening in the communities. That is all gone now with the Democrats thoroughly controlling the state at every level of politics and running roughshod on the wishes of almost half the state. It is the exact authoritarianism that we all hoped to avoid. I feed sorry for friends and family still there, though they might have grown accustomed to the slow changes and don’t really notice.
The “city of weed and feed” needs new council members that promote good paying businesses rather than work for food and pot shops.
I miss the old Roths IGA.
My vote would be for the Post Office to acquire the site (even if through eminent domain) and move their operation there. They could replace the unsightly existing building with a beautiful and more central post office The old building could then be torn down and replaced, hopefully, by a parking structure, which downtown badly needs.