Sunny 82nd Market, located at 944 NE 82nd Avenue, closed this week, ending a long history of food sales at this site. Since its construction in 1926, the single-story shopfront supplied highway travelers and area residents with groceries for almost 100 years.

Originally constructed as a storefront with an attached house in the rear, the building hugged the road’s edge at 228 E 82nd Avenue. It was the sole commercial property on the massive block owned by the Oregon Employment Institution for the Blind, now occupied by Montavilla Park and Multnomah University. City staff adjusted the building’s address to 944 NE 82nd Avenue during Portland’s Great Renumbering of 1931-1933. In September of 1934, the building’s owners relocated the structure further back from the street to allow for road widening.

For over three decades, the R.B. Grocery and Meat Market served the community from this location. During its near 100 years, the property changed hands many times, most recently in 1987. The name of the market also changed. However, it has remained a destination for the hungry regardless of what people called it. The business owners first registered Sunny 82nd Market at this address in 1991 and let the registration elapse last year.

The next chapter for this building is uncertain. No recorder property sales or real estate listings are available at the moment. Expect to see some transformation to the site over the next twelve months as this location once again finds a new purpose.

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