Key Market closes for good Key Market closes for good (April 13, 2005)

By Marion Softky

Almanac Staff Writer

After 45 years, there is no longer a community market on Fifth Avenue at El Camino Real in unincorporated Redwood City.

The Key Market closed its doors for good on April 6 because of plunging revenues. "There was just not enough business," said Chris Dehoff, who manages the market bought in 1978 by his father, Jack Dehoff, of Atherton.

Mr. Dehoff hesitated to blame the closure on the continued presence of day laborers who hang out around the corner and parking lot hoping for drive-by jobs, but he acknowledged their presence deters some customers.

The Dehoffs' other two Key Markets in the Redwood City area are doing well, he noted; they are located at Marsh Manor, off Marsh Road, and at 1063 Upton Street.

"There are a multitude of reasons for the decline in sales. This is a very competitive business," Mr. Dehoff told the Almanac. "But the day-laborer situation isn't helping. The neighborhood is negatively affected."

The market almost closed last December, in part because of the continued presence of day laborers. But an outpouring of support from loyal customers in nearby Atherton, Menlo Park and North Fair Oaks persuaded the Dehoffs to keep it open in hopes that San Mateo County would provide a center where day laborers could obtain no-questions-asked jobs without loitering along the streets and discouraging customers.

No such job center has opened yet, although the county hopes to open a center for day laborers in the North Fair Oaks area in early May.

"It is coming along. We need an operator," said Mr. Dehoff, who still serves on the merchants' committee pushing for the center. Fifth Avenue merchants affected by the problem are contributing $11,000 to the new center, he noted.

"It's taken a lot longer than we hoped," said Supervisor Rose Jacobs Gibson. "This has not been an easy thing. We have to have a way that the day laborers and those who want to hire them can connect. We have to find a way for people to feel comfortable."
Customer reaction

"Isn't it sad? I will miss Key Market," said Dr. Margaret Ziegler of Menlo Park, who loved to pick up groceries at the friendly local market.

While Dr. Ziegler said she was not deterred by the day laborers herself, she understands how some women shopping there might be put off by the men lounging nearby hoping to catch someone's eye. "I'm sad for both sides," she said. "Everybody lost."

The Dehoffs are looking for another business tenant for the site, which they own.

"Very few, if any" people will lose their jobs due to the closure, Mr. Dehoff said. Most will move to the other Key Markets in Redwood City and San Mateo.

Meanwhile, Chris Dehoff said hopefully, "We are trying to steer customers to our other two Redwood City sites."

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