Owners: ‘We’ve always wanted to be here’ — Doors open at 8 a.m. for grand opening; Chamber ribbon cutting at 10 a.m.  

By Holly Dillemuth, Ashland.news

A South Ashland retail space that has sat vacant since 2020 has new life again, returning to its roots as a grocery store with the opening of Grocery Outlet next week, adding 20 full-time jobs to Ashland’s economy. 

Store owners Jonathan and Jennifer Lawton will host the store’s grand opening at 8 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 22. The Ashland Chamber of Commerce will hold a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. to celebrate opening of the 11,000-square-foot space to the community. 

The first 100 customers will receive “Bliss Bucks,” ranging from $5 to $500. Customers will also receive a limited edition reusable bag while supplies last.

“We have quite a few fun events planned,” Jonathan said. “Franz Bakery is going to do a grilled cheese truck outside. We’ve got many giveaways for the first 100 customers.”

A dozen eggs will be on special for 99 cents for the location’s first week open as well, Jonathan said.

The space previously held Coming Attractions Theater, which closed in 2020 after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but served as a Ray’s Food Place many years ago, Jonathan said, explaining the presence of a loading dock in the back.

“It’s going back to its original use,” he told Ashland.news at the store earlier this week.

Employees bustled about this week, stocking shelves and preparing the store to open its doors. Besides 20 full-time employees, another 13 part-time employees will make up the team.

“It’s been a blessing,” Jonathan said. “The quality of applicants that we’ve got in Ashland are very high, so we’re very lucky that people who live in Ashland want to work in Ashland.”

The Lawtons, owners of the Medford and now Ashland locations, say they’ve wanted to open an Ashland location for years. The couple had been looking for the right location in Ashland for the past three years, he said.

“The timing was just right,” he said.

Construction started on the space in summer 2025 and wrapped up in December.

Jonathan said that the Medford store, which is larger at 17,000 square feet, currently sells more organic products than any Grocery Outlet in the country.

“We get a lot of Ashland customers currently,” Jonathan said, “so we’ve spent a lot of time identifying the right items for this customer (base). Our Ashland customer (base) in Medford over the last five years has grown a lot. About 20% of our customers at the Medford store come from Ashland.”

He shared that, similar to the Medford store, the Ashland store will also lean heavily into natural, organic products with gluten-free options. 

“The Ashland customers who had been shopping at our store in Medford have been begging us to move into Ashland,” Jonathan said.

“So I knew that there was a need just from that,” he added.

“The majority of groceries that are consumed in Ashland are purchased in Medford. So most Ashland residents will make the pilgrimage to Medford to go grocery shopping. This is just one more addition to Ashland to keep the food dollars in Ashland.”

Jonathan added that the smaller size of the Ashland location is the average size for the store among the corporation’s some 600 stores across the country.

With the responsibility for ordering and merchandising for the store, he brings in what the customers want and need at each of his stores.

“That’s what makes every Grocery Outlet unique and different,” he said.

Another item unique to the store will be a large Ashland Food Project bag at the front of the store when customers walk inside.

“We partnered with the Ashland Food Project so they gave us this fun, big bag,” he said. “This will be its home and then my wife and I every day will be putting food into (it).”

The food will be distributed through the Ashland Community Food Bank.

After partnering with the Ashland nonprofit, Jonathan said he has connected with the Medford Food Project as well.

Meet the Lawtons

Touring the store this week with Ashland.news, the couple talked family, favorite products and a fondness for pets (they have two French bulldogs).

The pair met in high school where they both grew up in Chehalis, Washington.

After serving in the military, Jonathan came home and both started working for Jennifer’s uncle’s Grocery Outlet there with the intent to become Grocery Outlet owners.

Three kids later, the couple have been store owners for 20 years, starting out in Northern California and helping train others to open stores in Orange County in Southern California. 

On the drive home from California to Washington, the pair would often stop in Ashland, marveling at the beauty of the area.

“We always thought, someday we’re going to get a store in Ashland,” Jonathan said.

“It’s the most unique city on I-5.”

They’ve owned the Medford Grocery Outlet for five years and are now embarking on their next adventure with the new Ashland location.

Jonathan shared a fun fact that the Medford store, which opened in 1974, was store No. 29. The Ashland location is No. 602.

“That’s how much growth this company’s had between these two stores (opening),” Jonathan said.

“This is the first Grocery Outlet to open in 2026,” he added.

The store is in the Ashland Shopping Center at 1644 Ashland St., Ashland.

Grocery Outlet, headquartered in Emeryville, California, operates area stores in Medford, White City, Grants Pass, and Klamath Falls.

To learn more, go online to groceryoutlet.com.

Reach Ashland.news staff reporter Holly Dillemuth at [email protected].

Related story: Grocery store could move into former theater on Ashland Street (Jan. 21, 2025)