Historic Tacoma neighborhood market returns 14 months after vandalism

Delightful Market, a locally owned and operated convenience store, growler-fill station and soon coffee shop, has reopened in Tacoma’s North End more than a year after a thief rammed a pickup truck into the century-old building.

Owners Jeana and Aaron Skiles said the incident, which was one of a string of such vandalism last year often leading to ATM thefts, “solidified” their dedication to the business they purchased eight years ago and the community it serves.

“We need to come back and we’re gonna come back bigger,” Jeana recalled in early May as Delightful 2.0 — their nickname for this comeback story — was fluttering back to life.

A neighbor who had frequented the market with her sons when they were just babies returned, the boys now toddlers, tall enough to survey the freezers of Ruby Jewel ice cream sandwiches, Klondike bars and La Michoacana paletas. Several old-timers swung by for a scratch-lotto ticket, scanned through a digital machine that plays a little tune if it’s a winner.

“Get that sound!” said Rachele Piety, the shop’s new general manager and resident coffee pro, as The News Tribune photographer was interviewing the Skiles on camera.

With the sun soaking through freshly installed windows, they stood in front of a new U-shaped counter, forged from salvaged acacia from Second Use in downtown Tacoma. When you walk in the door, to your right is a newly opened cafe space, and to your left is the convenience store, the shelves stocked with the usual suspects and a host of local goods that made Delightful an important neighbor in this nook of the North End.

Baking soda, flour, tins of SPAM to cans, Campbell’s tomato soup. Snacks from chicharrones and Pirate’s Booty popcorn to Airhead candies and Snickers bars. Random car stuff, light bulbs, paper plates and other unexpected-guest party gear. Handmade caramels from Tacoma’s own Kelly’s Chocolates, tubs of salsa crafted in Gig Harbor, bee pollen from Robbins Honey Farm in Lakewood and Jack’s Apple Chips baked in Federal Way. Smith Brothers milk and eggs, giant loaves of Franz white bread, tinctures from farmers market mainstay Bona Fide Potents. A broad selection of craft beer — a risk when the Skiles first took it around 2016 — has also become an essential part of the business.

That local element mixed unapologetically with Cheetos, dog treats and 40-ounce cans of Bud Light was the goal, explained Jeana, who then described it as a bodega. I asked if she thought the word fit, and she replied succinctly, “Oh yeah — it’s walkable!”

WHY BUY A CONVENIENCE STORE?

Both Jeana and Aaron had parents who owned businesses. After running restaurants in Bellingham, her parents retired in Tacoma and considered purchasing the store at 4818 North 45th St., but they instead bought a gas station in Spanaway. When her father died, the Skiles, who met in Aaron’s home state of Arizona, decided to move closer to her mom. They didn’t intend to buy a neighborhood market, but their “entrepreneurial spirit” got the best of them.

“That wasn’t the initial plan,” laughed Jeana. When visiting her mom, they would pass the Jiffy Mart, as it was then called, the siding and trim painted Barney-purple and green and the glass block windows secured with security bars.

“Aaron has never stopped thinking of this store,” she said.

The building has been a market from the beginning, explained Aaron, who has dug into the history.

In 1916, Rasmus Olsen grocery opened, with his son Arthur taking the reins through the ‘50s. The next owner gave it up for a gig at the nearby Piggly Wiggly. Bill Renner then ran his namesake grocery from 1959-1992. Pyong Yong had Jiffy Mart here until selling to the Skiles in 2015.

“Most people in the neighborhood know it as Renner’s,” Aaron said.

REBUILDING DELIGHTFUL

Having invested so much of themselves and their savings into the market — they spent most of their budget replacing the electrical panel and the cooler floor, “nothing you could see!” — the truck vandalism “devastated” them, Jeana said.

The store was completely bungled, ruining the main entrance and one window. They recalled the long morning of Tuesday, March 7, 2022, as surreal.

“We thought at first there might be a way to keep operating,” recalled Aaron, but “there was root beer and kombucha spraying from the taps.”

Before, major upgrades would have required closing the store on purpose. They embraced the opportunity: Rather than just fix what was broken, they restored the 107-year-old market, tearing out three layers of linoleum tile flooring and asbestos to reveal fir and pine hardwood. They replaced all of the glass block windows with clear panes. They tore down a wall, behind which used to be an ever-messy storage space and their kids’ playroom of sorts. It’s now outfitted with gold stools at the counter, tables and chairs, where guests can sip Olympia Coffee, a kombucha on tap or a beer from the cooler. (There is no liquor license in Washington state for such a concept that isn’t also a restaurant; the store can fill growlers from a draft system but pints can’t be consumed on-site — but you can drink a can!)

The best part of being back, they said, is seeing customers again.

“We’re really part of people’s lives,” Jeana said. “We always put chairs out front. We always wanted people to come out and linger.”

DELIGHTFUL NEIGHBORHOOD MARKET

▪ 4818 N 45th St., Tacoma, 253-327-1144, delightfulmkt.com

▪ Monday-Thursday 7 a.m.-9 p.m., Friday 7 a.m.-10 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m.-10 p.m., Sunday 8 a.m.-8 p.m.

▪ Details: family-owned convenience store and coffee shop with the basics plus local beer and foods (drip coffee currently available with espresso on the way); pastries and sandwiches expected soon