Amy Martin picked at a small ice cream while relaxing at a picnic table outside the Main Street Dairy Queen on a sunny Vancouver afternoon.
For a fast food joint, the Dairy Queen carries an odd nostalgia of late night cruising, walk-up snacks and friends gathering on warm summer days. A testament to its longevity, an old glass pay phone booth, the phone long removed, still populates a spot in the restaurant’s parking lot near the street.
In Hazel Dell on the same afternoon, Fred and June Bartlett enjoyed a game of mini-golf and a round of ice cream with their grandson Zack Collett at Steakburger, another Clark County fixture.
The vinyl red booths, the odor of grease and meat, the occasional yelp when a visitor got a ball in the hole all seemed to hearken back to childhood and a reminder of a different time when the world wasn’t quite so complex.
But, as Greek philosopher Heraclitus noted more than 2,500 years ago, nothing in this world is constant, except change.
For Dairy Queen, the latest change is small, at least. It changed ownership on March 31, but it’s not closing.
It’s a different story for the 49-year-old Bill’s Chicken and Steak House, which closed on April 12, the 58-year-old Steakburger, closing on May 29, and Sparks Home Furnishings, closing in June after 63 years at Broadway and Evergreen and 132 years as a family-owned business.
Change rolls on
By sticking around, Dairy Queen remains one of the few walk-up restaurants still standing in an era where drive-through is king.
“I didn’t even know that it changed ownership,” Martin said, enjoying her snack at the table under a tree. “But it’s a franchise. I was more concerned when the (downtown) Burgerville was demolished (in 2011). That was significant. It was a walk-up like this. You don’t see those anymore. It was just sad to see it go.”
The 39-year-old said she doesn’t feel the same way about Steakburger, which is near her house.
“I’m OK with that going,” Martin said. “It’s kind of ugly and in need of significant repair. I’d like to see the Highway 99 revitalization project go forward since I live there.”
In contrast, Fred and June Bartlett said they’re sad to see Steakburger go. The attached Golf-O-Rama is the last outdoor mini-golf course standing in the county, and has been a great place to spend time with Zack, they said.
“It’s good for the kids,” Fred Bartlett said. “When I came here there was a skating rink; now that’s gone. There’s nothing else for the kids to do.”
They like the place because the ice cream is good and the prices are low. But that said, the couple, who moved to Vancouver from Phoenix in 1978, do have a wish list for replacement businesses already.
“I like the coffee shop coming in,” June Bartlett said of the planned Dutch Bros. Coffee kiosk. “It would be nice if we could get a good restaurant in, too, like a Chili’s. For some reason Vancouver’s not good with restaurants. We have to drive all the way to Portland to get to Sizzler.”
The way things are now, the options seem to be either a cheap meal at a place that looks like it’s falling apart, or something significantly overpriced at a place that looks shiny and new, the two said.
“It’s disappointing,” Fred Bartlett said. “We used to go bowling a lot when I was younger. Those things used to be reasonably priced. It’s hard to take the kids now because it’s too expensive.”
And there doesn’t seem to be much of a middle ground left, he said.
“I suppose it’s kind of like the middle class,” Fred Bartlett said with a grimace.
Aging out
There’s actually a larger reason why so many multi-generational businesses have been closing lately, one that’s likely to continue for a while, said Sherri Noxel, director of the Austin Family Business Program at Oregon State University.
“The trend, honestly, is the aging demographic,” Noxel said. “The owners, the baby boom generation, are hitting that age. And while they may have had historic success, many legacy businesses didn’t keep up with the times or engage the next generation in the family business.”
Legacy businesses like Sparks and Steakburger that remain in families for generations tend to provide a sense of continuity in the community. When they close, there’s an understandable nostalgia — and a larger overall loss, Noxel said.
“There’s a concern that family businesses are not being taken over by the next generation, that owners are leaving or businesses are being transferred to out-of-state buyers,” Noxel said. “And family businesses are often where you find most of the community leaders.”
One problem for businesses over time is that some owners choose not to reinvest in new equipment and infrastructure as things slowly but inevitably wear.
“So the owner generation, if they didn’t reinvest to keep up, the next generation finds that they’re that much further behind when it’s time to take over,” Noxel said. “And you can understand why the kids might not be interested (in keeping the business going).”
Behind the wave of closures we could still see a new wave of young businesses cropping up, she said.
Younger generations raised in families with multi-generational businesses have a great advantage when it comes to innovating. And while older businesses are closing, there have been a host of small vibrant businesses popping up in the Clark County beer and food scene recently, she said.
“The next generation, they’ve got the interest and energy, but they want to put their own stamp on things,” Noxel said. “I’m optimistic about that. And when students like that come to the university, they have a big advantage because they understand the risks and sacrifice it will take to go forward.”
The next generation
That was certainly the case for Sunny Parsons, owner of Heathen Brewing and co-owner of Cascade Flooring America in Vancouver.
“My mom started Cascade Flooring in 1976, so as a kid growing up, that was all I knew — I was born in ’75,” Parsons said. “My mom always said ‘work real hard and something good will happen.’ I think I grew up thinking that there’s nothing I can’t do, it just requires work.”
Cascade Flooring remains a healthy business with more than 40 employees and about $12 million a year in sales. He took over management of it in 2003.
But Parsons also wanted to make his own mark on the community, so he followed his passion for beer and founded Heathen Brewing in 2012.
Beer is a tougher industry to thrive in, but the company is already turning a small profit has won several awards for its beers, he said.
“I’m not moving into beer to be more profitable,” Parsons said. “For me, it’s not about money, it’s about growing something as my own. As a second generation entrepreneur I think it’s important to build something myself.”
And watching his mother spend countless hours making the flooring business thrive, he knew beforehand the requirements and sacrifices he’d have to make starting the new business, he said.
“She really taught me to have a sense of self worth, and as an entrepreneur I knew I’d be working 70-80 hours a week, but for me that’s OK,” Parsons said. “I always thought it was normal, people saying ‘you can’t do that’ and then you just go out and do it.”
That seems to be the case for other young entrepreneurs he knows in Clark County, Parsons said.
And while it’s sad to see some long standing businesses go, it’s important to remember that the younger generation is still here and innovating, he said.
“If I lost everything I’d just start over with another new business and do it all again,” Parsons said.
