When a 28-Year Anchor Store Leaves: What the Fred Meyer Closure Could Mean for Small Businesses at James Center
For nearly three decades, Fred Meyer has been an anchor at James Center in West Tacoma.
The grocery history at 6901 S. 19th Street goes back even further. The location was originally built in 1995 as a Stock Market Foods store before being converted to a Fred Meyer Marketplace in 1998. That means the property has functioned as a major grocery destination for more than 30 years, including approximately 28 years under the Fred Meyer name.
On January 30, 2027, that long-established pattern is scheduled to come to an end.
Fred Meyer will close its James Center location when the building lease expires. Approximately 100 unionized employees are expected to be affected. The closure also follows the loss of Fred Meyer’s South End Tacoma location on Pacific Avenue in 2025, making this another significant change to Tacoma’s retail landscape.
There will understandably be discussion about the employees affected, grocery access in West Tacoma and where residents will shop after the closure.
But there is another economic consequence that deserves attention.
What happens to the smaller businesses that have spent years, and in some cases potentially decades, operating around the customer traffic generated by a major grocery anchor?
For those businesses, January 30 is not simply the day a neighboring retailer closes its doors. It could represent a significant change to the economics of their location.
Three Decades of Consumer Habits Matter
The longevity of the James Center grocery location is important.
When a large retailer occupies a shopping center for only a few years, surrounding businesses may have relatively limited dependence on the traffic it generates. More than 30 years as a grocery destination is different.
Since Fred Meyer took over the location in 1998, countless routines have developed around that store. People have stopped there after work, made weekly grocery trips, picked up prescriptions, purchased household necessities and combined those visits with stops at other businesses throughout James Center and the surrounding area.
Some neighboring businesses opened knowing Fred Meyer was there. The presence of a major grocery retailer may have been part of what made the location attractive in the first place.
Employees have changed. Businesses have come and gone. Neighborhoods have grown. Consumer habits have evolved. Yet throughout much of that time, the grocery store remained a consistent generator of traffic.
That makes its departure more than an empty storefront.
It removes one of the fundamental reasons thousands of people have had for regularly traveling to that particular commercial center.
An Anchor Store Does More Than Occupy a Building
Large grocery and retail stores are called anchor tenants for a reason. Their economic value to a shopping center extends far beyond the square footage they occupy.
They bring people.
Those customers create opportunities for surrounding restaurants, retailers, service providers and professional businesses. Someone might grab lunch before grocery shopping. Another customer might stop at a nearby business after picking up a prescription. A family running errands may combine several purchases into a single trip.
On the books of the smaller business, that sale has nothing to do with Fred Meyer.
Economically, however, Fred Meyer may have helped create the transaction simply by bringing the customer to James Center.
Over nearly three decades, that traffic becomes embedded in the economics of the surrounding commercial area.
When the anchor disappears, those patterns can change remarkably quickly.
Small Businesses May Feel the Closure Before January
One mistake surrounding businesses should avoid is assuming that the economic impact begins on January 30, 2027.
Customer behavior may begin changing well before the doors officially close.
As customers become aware of the closure, some will begin establishing new shopping routines. Inventory or services at the closing store may eventually change. Customers who previously visited James Center once or twice each week may begin shopping somewhere else before the official closing date.
Once a customer establishes a new grocery routine, the other errands associated with that trip may move with them.
A customer who previously bought groceries at Fred Meyer and then stopped at another James Center business may begin making both purchases somewhere else.
That is why surrounding businesses should begin monitoring their numbers now rather than waiting until February or March to determine whether something has changed.
Establish a Financial Baseline Now
Businesses potentially affected by the closure should begin documenting what normal currently looks like.
Compare monthly revenue against previous years. Look at transaction counts, average customer purchases, daily sales patterns and seasonal fluctuations. If possible, compare customer traffic by day of the week and time of day.
The objective is to establish a baseline before the anchor disappears.
Without a baseline, an owner may recognize that the business “feels slower” without knowing whether revenue has actually declined 3 percent, 10 percent or 25 percent.
Those differences require very different responses.
Accounting records should not simply tell you what happened last year. Used properly, they can help identify changes occurring inside a business while there is still time to respond.
A Small Decline in Revenue Can Create a Much Larger Decline in Profit
One of the most important concepts for affected businesses to understand is that a decline in revenue does not necessarily create an equal decline in profit.
Imagine a business experiencing a 10 percent decline in sales after the anchor closes.
Rent probably does not decline by 10 percent.
Insurance does not decline by 10 percent.
Software, utilities, loan payments, licensing costs and many other expenses may remain largely unchanged. Minimum staffing requirements may also make payroll difficult to reduce proportionately.
Much of the revenue that disappears can therefore come directly out of what previously represented the business’s profit.
A company that appeared financially healthy before the closure could experience significant margin compression even though its total sales decline initially appears manageable.
That is why businesses should model the financial consequences before they occur.
Build Several Versions of 2027
Small businesses surrounding James Center should consider creating several financial scenarios for 2027.
Begin with expected operations based upon current revenue. Then calculate what happens if revenue declines by 5 percent. Run the numbers again at 10 percent, 15 percent and 20 percent.
The purpose is not to predict exactly what will happen.
The purpose is to understand what could happen.
At what revenue level does the business stop producing a meaningful profit? At what point does staffing become unsustainable? How much cash would be required to absorb several slower months? Which expenses could realistically be reduced? Are there planned equipment purchases, expansions or other financial commitments that should be reconsidered?
A business owner who already knows the answers to those questions has considerably more flexibility than one discovering them after several months of losses.
Cash Flow Could Become the Immediate Concern
Revenue receives much of the attention in business discussions, but cash flow may become the more immediate issue.
Businesses should review their available cash reserves, accounts receivable, accounts payable, inventory requirements, debt obligations, payroll and recurring expenses.
This is especially important for businesses operating on narrow margins.
A company can technically remain profitable on paper while experiencing significant cash-flow pressure.
Owners should understand how many months of operating expenses are readily available and how long the business could continue if revenue falls below expectations.
Do not allow the checking account balance to become the first warning that something is wrong.
Review Your Lease Before the Landscape Changes
The Fred Meyer closure should also prompt neighboring tenants to pull out their own leases and review them.
A business that selected James Center or the surrounding area partly because of the traffic generated by a major anchor should understand exactly what obligations remain if the character of the center changes.
How much time remains on the lease? When must notice of renewal or termination be provided? Are there scheduled rent increases? What operating expenses are passed through to tenants? Are there provisions addressing occupancy or anchor tenants?
The departure of Fred Meyer should not be assumed to automatically change another tenant’s obligations.
It may not.
The important point is to know what those obligations are before making additional long-term investments in the location.
Do Not Build a Financial Plan Around an Immediate Replacement
Naturally, one of the first questions will be: What is going to replace Fred Meyer?
A strong replacement tenant could ultimately be very good for James Center and the businesses surrounding it. A new retailer could restore traffic or potentially introduce an entirely new group of customers.
But until that replacement exists, small businesses should not build financial forecasts around it.
A large grocery space is very different from an ordinary storefront. Finding a tenant, negotiating an agreement, permitting improvements, remodeling the space and eventually opening a new business can take time.
The space could also be divided among several tenants, redeveloped or ultimately used for something entirely different.
Businesses should hope for a successful replacement while financially preparing for the possibility that the vacancy lasts longer than expected.
Businesses May Need to Start Generating Their Own Traffic
For some businesses, this may be the biggest strategic adjustment.
For years, a portion of their customers may have arrived at James Center because they were already going to Fred Meyer.
After January, businesses may need to become considerably more deliberate about giving customers a reason to visit James Center specifically for them.
That could mean strengthening local advertising, improving online visibility, communicating more frequently with customers, developing loyalty programs, increasing community outreach, improving signage or working collaboratively with neighboring businesses on promotions and events.
The strategic question changes.
Instead of asking, “How do we capture customers who are already here?”
Businesses may increasingly need to ask, “How do we convince customers to come here specifically for us?”
Those are very different business models.
Existing Customers Become More Valuable
When new customer traffic becomes uncertain, retaining existing customers becomes increasingly important.
Businesses should consider whether they have reliable ways to communicate with the customers who already know them.
If someone originally discovered your restaurant, store or service because they regularly visited Fred Meyer, what will remind that customer to return after Fred Meyer is gone?
Businesses with established customer databases, email lists, appointment systems, loyalty programs and strong community relationships may be better positioned to maintain those relationships independently of the shopping center’s anchor.
This is also an appropriate time to start asking customers how they discovered the business and why they continue returning.
Do not simply assume how dependent your business is on Fred Meyer traffic.
Measure it whenever possible.
Not Every Business Will Experience the Same Impact
The closure will not affect every neighboring business equally.
A professional office operating primarily by appointment may experience relatively little change. A restaurant dependent on spontaneous lunch and dinner traffic could experience considerably more. A specialty retailer whose customers intentionally travel to the business may be less vulnerable than a convenience-oriented business dependent upon people already being in the shopping center.
Location within the center may matter. Visibility may matter. Parking patterns may change. The type of replacement tenant may eventually matter enormously.
Businesses should therefore avoid both extremes.
Do not automatically assume the closure will be devastating.
But do not assume it will have no effect either.
Let the numbers determine the response.
There Could Also Be Opportunities
Major changes to a commercial center are not exclusively negative.
A future replacement for Fred Meyer could introduce different customers and potentially generate significant traffic. New businesses could move into surrounding vacancies. Existing businesses could collaborate more closely. Changes to the center could create opportunities that do not currently exist.
The closure may also reveal something valuable to business owners: how much of their success comes from their own reputation and customer relationships versus the traffic generated by their location.
A business that learns how to generate its own customers rather than depending heavily upon an anchor tenant can ultimately become more resilient.
But opportunity should not be confused with certainty.
Businesses should financially prepare based upon what is known while remaining ready to take advantage of whatever comes next.
January 30, 2027 Is More Than a Closing Date
For businesses surrounding James Center, January 30 should already be marked on the calendar as a business planning deadline.
There is still time to prepare.
Between now and then, owners can establish revenue baselines, strengthen cash reserves, review expenses, evaluate staffing, examine lease obligations, communicate with customers and develop marketing strategies intended to generate traffic independently.
Waiting until March, April or May to discover that revenue has fallen significantly wastes some of the most valuable planning time available.
The businesses that navigate this transition most successfully may not necessarily be those least affected by the closure.
They may simply be the businesses that recognized their exposure early enough to prepare for it.
A Lesson for Small Businesses Everywhere
There is a broader business lesson in what is happening at James Center.
If a substantial portion of your customer traffic exists because another business attracts people to your location, that traffic represents a form of concentration risk.
The other business does not have to be your customer, supplier or business partner to have an enormous influence on your financial performance.
A grocery store can close. A large employer can relocate. A shopping center can lose an anchor. Road construction can alter traffic patterns. A popular neighboring business can move. Consumer habits can change.
Small-business owners should periodically ask themselves a difficult but valuable question:
If the largest reason people come to this area disappeared tomorrow, what would happen to our business?
For businesses surrounding James Center, that question is no longer hypothetical.
A grocery store has operated at this location since 1995. Fred Meyer has occupied it since 1998. Generations of Tacoma residents have incorporated the store into their weekly routines, and neighboring businesses have operated within the commercial activity those routines helped create.
When Fred Meyer closes on January 30, 2027, more than a store will disappear from James Center.
A nearly three-decade-old generator of customer traffic will disappear with it.
There is no way to know today exactly how much that will affect each neighboring business. Some may experience little disruption. Others may discover that the anchor was contributing far more to their customer traffic than they realized.
What businesses can control is how prepared they are when the change arrives.
At Pivotal Forensic Accounting & Audits, we encourage business owners affected by major changes in their local economy to look beyond the immediate event and examine what their financial records are telling them. Revenue trends, margins, operating expenses and cash flow can provide early warning signs and help owners make informed decisions before a temporary slowdown becomes a larger financial problem.
Planning cannot prevent a neighboring anchor store from leaving.
But understanding your numbers can give you considerably more control over what your business does next.
Your taxes, your business and your financial future deserve professional oversight, experience and accountability.
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Tacoma, WA 98407
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