Renovations complete on former grocery store in Kent’s South End

A hundred year old building in Kent’s South End neighborhood is ready for new life, thanks to a rehabilitation effort by the Hometown Foundation.

Built in 1923 by the Gugolz family, the structure at 1001 Franklin Ave. once housed a grocery that catered to the South End’s German and Swiss immigrants. It later became an office, then apartments, and then – nothing, as it deteriorated beyond use, said Hometown Foundation Chairman Howard Boyle.

Ownership was eventually handed down to John and Susan Morrison, who donated the 744-square foot building to the Kent Historical Society. KHS transferred it to the Hometown Foundation, which Hometown Bank formed in 2020 for the purchase. 

The foundation has nine trustees, three each from the bank, the city of Kent and the community. They see the renovated building as having potential for a beauty parlor or barber shop, office or other low-traffic, non-retail business.

Topped by a row of fluted glass panes, the grocery store’s large plate glass windows once again face Franklin Avenue. There was no way to create ADA-compliant access from the building’s original front door on Franklin, but the concrete stairs remain and the space that once held the doorway is now a door-shaped pane of glass.

The building’s main entrance was moved to the structure’s south side, where a small concrete parking area accessible off Franklin was laid.

A back window still features the security bars the Gugolz family installed, and a back door provides secondary ingress and egress. Look up, and a patterned aluminum ceiling is reminiscent of the tin ceilings that once graced older buildings. 

A large restroom is behind the main room, and stairs lead down to an unheated concrete-floored basement that mirrors the first floor’s square footage.

Defying a world where dollars rule, Boyle said Hometown Foundation’s goal is not to make a profit.

“We’re going to sell it for what we have in it,” he said. “We’re anticipating it’s somewhere around $275,000.”

Boyle said an architect he showed the building to said it was worth close to double that. 

If no local person steps up, Boyle said Hometown Foundation will list the building on the open market “as long as the use is going to be something that’s compatible with the historic South End. We want this neighborhood to gain value. We want the community to understand that there’s value in this neighborhood.”

Hometown Foundation’s interests go beyond Kent’s mother neighborhood. Boyle said the board of directors is eying what might be its second project.

“It’s in another older area that would fit very nicely, but it doesn’t happen to be in the south end. The problem is, we need to get the property at a very low price, and most people that have property don't want to sell it at a low low price,” he said.