Sheridan Fruit Company — one of Portland’s oldest independent grocers — is officially shutting up shop after 110 years.
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A store employee confirmed Thursday that this week would be Southeast Portland grocer’s last. Sheridan, located at 409 S.E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., will be open until 5 p.m. Friday.
“Since 1916, it has been our greatest honor to be a part of your kitchens, your holiday traditions, and your daily lives,” Sheridan said in a statement. “We have been proud to champion local farmers and serve the city we love for over a century.”
The grocer was one of the few remaining vestiges of Portland’s Produce Row, a once-thriving network of family-owned grocers spread across Central Eastside.
Over 110 years, Sheridan survived two world wars, the Great Depression and more than one global pandemic, beginning with the Spanish flu in the early 20th century.
But the store has struggled to stay afloat in the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, Sheridan leadership told The Oregonian/OregonLive in September, with concerns ranging from stock issues to lost wholesale customers to dwindling foot traffic. Closure rumors began to swirl last year as customers reported bare shelves and lackluster meat and bulk departments.
Still, the grocer remained optimistic, with plans to focus instead on specialty resources like its deli, bulk section and imported Italian products.
“We’re not going anywhere,” Justin Barwick, Sheridan’s treasurer and son to company president Anne Barwick, said last year. “We’ve been here a long, long time and are absolutely committed to staying here.”
Sheridan has been passed down through four generations of the Poleo family, founded in 1916 by John Sheridan and bought by brothers Sam and Larry Poleo three decades later.
