Western Front - 1992 June 25

              The Western Front
June 25,1992 /Volume 84, Number 54 Western Washington University please recycle
New Haggen store emphasizes service
By Tina Prather
news / features editor
When the doors opened Wednes­day
morning at the new Haggen gro­cery
store in Sehome Village, a steady
stream of people poured in. Just inside
the door, swarms of smiling employ­ees
bustled about while shoppers
wandered aimlessly exploring the
newly stocked aisles.
If only Ben Haggen were alive to
see how his hard work has paid off. In
1933, Haggen decided to open a
grocery store in Bellingham. His fa­ther
had always told him to start his
own business and he was ready to
give it a try.
It didn't matter to Haggen that it
was the beginning of the Depression
and times were getting tough. His
wife Dorothy said she remembers
when they were deciding what to do.
"We struggled a lot," she said.
"We were poor but we were happy. I
didn't worry about it. I knew he'd get
another job if things didn't work out.
Ben was always a hard worker."
At 19, Ben was managing his
first grocery store, a Piggly Wiggly in
Sedro Wooley, and he was the young­est
manager on the Pacific Coast. He
met Dorothy there, and they were
married a few years later. Ben went
on to manage stores in Bellingham,
Seattle and Portland for Skaggs,
which is now Safeway, before he
decided to come back to his home
town of Bellingham.
An employee prepares the new Haggen store for opening day.
Ben and his brother-in-law, Doug
Clark, whonowownsClark's Market
and Deli, put their money together
and came up with $1,000 to open the
Economy Market on Bay Street
Within a year they moved over to
Grand Avenue, as Haggen and Clark.
Dorothy said they struggled along
and didn't do too well at this time. In
1937 they had a chance to move over
to the corner of Railroad and Mag­nolia,
and they changed the name to
the White House Market. Their new
slogan was: "You may never be
Western Summer Health Services...
What is available to you?
president, but someday we'll see you
in the White House."
'Times were tough," Dorothy
said."Wedidn'thavemuch.Wedidn't
have a car or anything. We got this
house on Broadway, it was a nice
little four-bedroom house, for $16 a
month rent, and we lived there for 12
years." When they did finally buy a
car, they only paid $125 for it.
Things were a lot different when
Dorothy worked in the store's bakery
than they are now. Bread was 13 cents
a loaf and doughnuts were 29 cents a
dozen.
Dorothy said although she
worked a lot in the early years, she
wouldn'tgo near themeat department.
This was in the days when meat was
cut to order at the counter. Dorothy
said she found the more she knew, the
more she had to work.
Her kids found the same thing.
Their oldest son Don was three when
Ben opened his first store. Dorothy
said Don was always interested in
learning everything he could about
the grocery business, and he helped
out a lot when he was young.
Rick, who was about 13 years
youngerthan Don, eventually wound
up working in the stores as well. Mary
King, theyoungestchild, is two years
younger than Rick. She said she often
found herself working in the bakery.
"I was responsible for making
the maple bars," she recalls. 'To this
day I can't face a maple bar."
Ben was ahead of his time with
many of his store ideas. He was the
first north of Seattle to put in an in-store
bakery and self-service meat
market.
Due to parking restrictions at the
White House location, the Haggen's
were forced to either move their store
or close it down. In 1957 Ben decided
to go north, out of town, and bought a
store thatused to be aThrif tway in the
Town and Country shopping center
on Meridian.
Mary said at the time, everyone
thought her father was crazy. "It was
like moving out into the country," she
Please see Haggen,
page 4
1 By John Pressentin
accent editor
Western's Student Health Cen­ter,
High Street Hall 25, will offer its
services to students not enrolled in
summer classes, but who took at least
1 six credits per quarter and paid the
$30 health service fee for fall, winter
and spring of the 1991-1992 school
year.
In past summers, only students
enrolled in summer classes were eli­gible
for services from the Health
> Center.
"We're letting a few specific
people use the health center in the
summer that wouldn'thave otherwise
been able to use the center," said
Anne Melo, office manger of the
StudentHealthCenter. "We'retrying
> to make aservice available to students
who are staying in town and need
access to medical care."
Students who have not main­tained
meminimumload of six credits
or have taken a quarter off during the
The Student Hearth Care Center in High Street Hall
remains open during the summer to meet medical needs.
1991-1992 school year, however,
must have at least six credits during
the summer quarter to be eligible for
health services.
At the Health Center, students
may see staff physicians and nurse
practitioners for immediate medical
assistance and health counselors by
appointment.
The Health Center also
provides special services including:
Please see Health,
page 4
By John Pressentin
students' and faculties' exercise and
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will beheld at 5 p jn. on Tuesdays and
the intramural office, CV101. League
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people signed up for volleyball this
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be limited to 2 on2 Outdoor Volleyball
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Western's tennis courts. Entry forms
and a $5 entry fee, per division are
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