Salt Lake City's Emigration Market's pending closure saddens customers

SALT LAKE CITY — Sharon R. Hubbard's frequent trips across town to buy apricot cookies at Emigration Market are coming to an end — along with the upscale little neighborhood market itself.

Emigration Market, 1706 E. 1300 South, will close its doors permanently at the end of business April 3. But pieces of what made the place special to neighbors already are shutting down. Signs announce no more store credit, that the patio is closed forever, no checks. The coffee bar and the little diner are done.

Blake Williams, a butcher, still presides over the meat counter, where customers get it carved the way they like it. And the produce section is full and fresh. But as the shelves empty, stocks are not being replenished.

And there's a definite sadness in the air as customer after customer asks, "What will we do without you?" It's not clear if they mean the store itself or Verna DuPaix and Leslie Winkler, two long-time employees who on this day are working the cash register and admit they're trying not to cry — again.

"I don't buy meat anyplace else," says Ann Orton. "And this store has also been about convenience and consideration. When it's snowing, you know they'll be out there loading your groceries."

She stops for a minute, thinking, then adds that the real treasure here is the "civility."

Ask Stephanie Thomas about the store's demise and you hear a long sigh.

"It just makes me very sad," she says, adding that she pops in about five times a week. Her kids, who are 15, 12, and 8, love to hang out and have ice cream in this "nice, convenient place." She's sure the neighborhood will be the poorer without it.

Owners JT and Kimberly Martin announced this week their decision to close the store, a fixture since 1942. They bought it in 1999 and are among those mourning its death.

While JT Martin, a Salt Lake City councilman, late last year reportedly cited a boycott of his store for some of its sales troubles — in part stemming from his criticism of the Blue Boutique adult-novelty store — and had said that credit card processing fees had cut into already narrow profit margins, the poor economy was cited Tuesday for the store's demise.

"It has never been a huge money-maker, but it is just something we've loved being part of," Kimberly Martin said Tuesday. "But the past couple of years have really hit hard. We're on such small margins and there's not a lot of wiggle room. We could not compete. We hung on as long as we could."