December 19, 2007
By SUE RYAN
News staff writer

The lights will remain dark today at Cascade Market in Hood River.

That is because owner Hoby Streich closed the popular Cascade Avenue convenience store on Thursday.

“This will be the first time in 19 years before Christmas I will have time to shop,” he said.

Streich plans to keep the property but develop it into something else in the future. The Cascade Car Wash remains open.

He rang up sales for customers Thursday at half-price, cracking jokes with many of his longtime clients as he did so. Robby Kloster stopped in to buy a pop and said he’s been an almost daily visitor to the shop for nine years.

“Since I was about 10, yeah,” he said.

Streich said he was standing in the same location when the Hood River News took his photograph in 1988; right after he and his brother-in-law, Bob Huskey, had bought the business.

In 1991, the two added a car wash and in 2004 Streich bought Huskey out.

“My plans are to close the store, leave it vacant, and develop my property in The Dalles,” he said. “Then I’ll return and reevaluate Hood River’s needs and the economy before I decide what to do next.”

Part of his decision was driven by a desire to have more at-home time with family in addition to his other obligations. Streich serves as a commissioner for the Port of Hood River while his wife, Linda, is the mayor of the city.

But he also was ready to leave the world of retail behind and transition into becoming a developer and landlord.

“With running the market, it’s 24/7 every day and it’s tough to find employees,” Streich said.

He said he is looking forward to a more consistent year-round economy, saying while Hood River is busy in the summer that the winter months are slow.

His transition began last year when a friend was looking for a partner involving a parcel of land in The Dalles. While that deal didn’t go through, Streich took the initiative on his own to buy two lots in front of Home Depot.

The deal was final in January 2007 and the work on the 5,000-square-foot Metro Car Wash begins in January 2008. The facility will face West Sixth Street and will feature a tunnel car wash and offices. In addition, there will be three self-service bays that can handle cars or larger rigs such as RVs.

The other lot he split into two commercial sites and plans to build offices for rent. Streich said his time as a port commissioner has helped him know what to do to take a site from bare land to being shovel-ready to build.

When asked what he planned to do Friday following the market’s closure, Streich said his wife had asked him the same thing.

“I’m going to do whatever I want,” he said.