It is sad to say goodbye to long-time friends when they leave the neighborhood. Such is the case with the closing of the Houghton Market. While expansion and enhancements will make the new market an exciting place to shop, we will still miss those folks who for decades have made our soon-to-be-gone grocery a part of the neighborhood.

And it is those folks – Diane, Sandy, Carol, Steve, and all the others we’ve come to know over the years as neighbors – whom we will miss. What our store may have lacked in “fancy” it more than made up for in “friendly.”

We will miss the Easter egg hunts, the Customer Appreciation Days and all the special events they regularly organized. But perhaps we will miss most of all that human touch they brought to their jobs; that of taking an interest in their customers. Over the years they came to know us and our families. We hope to see them back in the new market, but for now, they should know they are Houghton friends who will be missed.

Jackie Smith, Kirkland