After 27 Years, Shop’n Kart at Yard Birds Prepares to Close for Good

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For the past three years, Shop’n Kart Owner Darris McDaniel says he has been losing money at his Yard Birds location, but he kept on trying to turn a profit at the expense of his overall bottomline. 

“I was just trying to save it because this was an icon,” McDaniel told The Chronicle Wednesday. “My accountant says I can’t do it anymore. It’s gotten to the point where I can’t throw any more money at it. It’s just not going anywhere.”

Shop’n Kart at Yard Birds will be closing in the coming weeks, McDaniel confirmed.

His other two grocery stores, one in Centralia and the other in Westport, will remain open. Likewise, the indoor swap meet and other businesses at the iconic Chehalis location will remain in place.

Shop’n Kart has been in business at Yard Birds for 27 years, but McDaniel said in an advertisement set to publish in The Chronicle Thursday that changes in the behavior of shoppers became too much to overcome.

“Changes in shopping behaviors, such as online shopping and big box stores like Walmart, have continued to cause a significant decline for local independent grocers,” the statement reads. “Lewis County has seen this over the last 13 years with the closing of five Fullers grocery stores. Walmart executives told our managers that we would close within six months. It took 13 years, but they got us.”

McDaniel said that the closing of the Chehalis Shop’n Kart is expected to eliminate about 40 of the store’s 55 staff positions. The other employees will be transferred to the Fullers Market in Centralia or the Shop’n Kart in Westport. McDaniel said he is attempting to find employment for additional employees and has started referring his staff to local Safeway grocery store representatives in an attempt to assist in their transition.

“I don’t like to cut and run,”  McDaniel said. “I’m sorry to see it end like this, but there’s some things that you just can’t control.”

Beginning Thursday, the business will begin selling all merchandise at 20 percent off. The new store hours are 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. McDaniel expects that the doors to Shop’n Kart will remain open for three to four weeks as they try to sell off the roughly $1 million dollars in remaining inventory.

McDaniel moved his Shop’n Kart store into Yard Birds in 1990 and ultimately purchased the entire 33.5 acre Yard Birds property in 1998. At that time, McDaniel’s was quoted as saying, “We’re trying to turn it into the Yard Birds of old.”

Over the next decade, McDaniel came close to approaching that ideal, but the arrival of big box stores to the area coupled with an influx in pharmacies that sell grocery items, stagnant population growth in the county and the economic recession of 2008 combined to spell the end of an era, he said. Repeated floods at the location didn’t help the cause either, costing over a million dollars in cleanup repairs during the two worst events. McDaniel says he has been losing money at the Chehalis Shop’n Kart for the last three years and that sales have dropped off 25 percent since February as rumors of the store’s demise began to spread.

While the Chehalis Shop’n Kart store is set to close, McDaniel emphasizes that the eclectic Yard Birds vendor mall will remain open as he moves to put the property on the active market. 



“They’re doing very well over there,” said McDaniel.

Yard Birds Mall Manager Jason Mattson confirmed McDaniel’s assertion and noted that he doesn’t expect any sort of mass exodus from the property once Shop’n Kart folds up its big tent. 

“I’d say the majority of them want to stay,” said Mattson, who has a large tattoo of the Yard Bird on his forearm. “They’ve put a lot of work into their stores.”

Putting a lot of work into a store is something McDaniel knows all about. On Wednesday, as news of the grocery store’s imminent closure slowly began to circulate, McDaniel was busy moving inventory around the store and handing out candy to children who accompanied their parents on their grocery shopping trips. His enthusiasm for the work was obvious even when the profits failed to match his efforts.

“Yard Birds, at one time was the biggest thing going. ... Before Walmart, this was the biggest grocer in all of Lewis and Cowlitz counties,” said McDaniel, who noted that at one time the complex housed a theater, pet store, motorcycle shop and other bustling businesses in addition to its history as a grocery hub. He added that the original incarnation of the Yard Bird roadside attraction was used to house a helicopter before it burned down in an accidental fire.

No matter what happens during the turnover, McDaniel hopes that the recently revamped Yard Bird statue situated on the west flank of the complex will remain standing and in good condition for years to come.

 “I hope so. ... I just paid $35,000 to finish it up again,” said McDaniel, who noted that the Yard Bird has been voted best roadside attraction in the Northwest on multiple occasions.

During his time at the helm of the Yard Birds operation and the Chehalis Shop’n Kart store in particular, McDaniel made a concerted effort to provide his customers with plentiful and affordable grocery options. He noted that his store typically carried about 67,000 different items, adding for comparison that a grocer like Safeway usually carries only about 40,000 different items. Much of that extra inventory was dedicated to niche items like natural foods, vegan and ethnic options, or out of the ordinary meat market options like rabbit or whole pig heads.

“This county is very diversified and I’ve always been a customer-first guy. So if they ask for it I will get it in,” said McDaniel.  

McDaniel noted that much of that diverse Shop’n Kart selection, including the ethnic offerings and extensive bulk dry goods section, will be shifted over to the Fullers Market location in Centralia, and he expressed optimism that loyal customers will follow suit.

“Again, thank you for all the lasting friendships that were made over the last 27 years,” McDaniel wrote. “Please support our employees and our community by supporting local businesses, including the Centralia Fullers store and our Westport store.”