Until 1985, the Sacks Feed site was occupied by Bob's Garage, a gas station and auto repair shop.



The following text is from the Kingston Historical Society:

" The first business on the corner now occupied by Sacks Feed and Garden was an automobile repair shop.

"It was built by Irwin Gyger, probably in the late 1940s. He loved working on automobiles, especially Chrysler products. He always wore white coveralls, a white shirt, and white cap to work. Old timers remember that his clothes looked the same when he left work at the end of the day as they did when he started in the morning.

" He eventually added gasoline pumps to the repair shop. The two later owners each had "Bob" as their first name."


The following information was provided by Jeff Groman (except where noted):

In 1984, the site was purchased by the husband and wife team of Jeff Groman and Els Heyne. Jeff was interested in a spot for a bicycle shop, and Els wanted to provide services to the local farming community.

As they proceeded with the business licensing process, at one point, they had to come up with a name in a hurry. Jeff made the comment that, if his mom were around, they would have to call it after her favorite New York store, Saks Fifth Avenue. Thus came about the OFFICIAL registered name, "Sacks Feed Avenue". [Editor's note: Jeff didn't mention it, but small town rumor would have it that there were also a group of friends, a good dinner and a bottle of wine involved.]

Jeff says he had only been in the Pacific Northwest for a couple of months at the time. If he had had more time for research, he probably would have called it the Barn Marche. [Editor's note: the Bon Marche - the "che" was pronounced like "shay" - was a Puget Sound - area chain of upscale department stores that later merged with Macy's.]

Jeff and Els ran the business until selling the feed store to Dave Hildebrandt in 1995. The bicycle business had outgrown the available space, and they had a young daughter to raise. They eventually moved their bicycle business to Bainbridge Island (see their Classic Cycle web site, with photos of the early days in Kingston included here.)

	DAVE'S STORY (and he's sticking to it!)
Cathleen		Dave

Dave Hildebrandt has owned and run Sacks Feed for the last 15 years.

The following information was provided by Dave:

INTERVIEW MATERIALS WITH DAVE TO FOLLOW.


The Sacks Feed Free-Range Chicken Band invaded the Kingston Fourth of July parade in ____.

Thank you to Jeff Groman and Dave Hildebrandt for the above information.