Father-son team new owners of Pomeroy Food Center

POMEROY––The local grocery store, Pomeroy Foods, previously owned and operated for 34 years by Mark Schmidt, was recently purchased by Dave Swearingen and Jason Hill of Entiat, Wash. The store will have a new name: Pomeroy Food Center.

The new owners are a father and son team. Swearingen is not new to the grocery retail trade: his father went into the grocery business in 1984 when he bought a store in Entiat. In 2004, Swearingen and his wife Renee went into business with his parents in the Entiat store as well as a store in Coulee City.

When Pomeroy Foods went on the market, they seized the opportunity to invest in another small community.

"We're excited to be here," Swearingen said. "Owning grocery stores in small towns is what we do. We want to make more friends than money and serve the community's needs."

Hill, the other half of the team, and his wife Anna have recently purchased a home on Vannaton Grade, in July. There he and his wife, who is a horsewoman, rodeo participant and a licensed massage therapist, will make their home. Anna will eventually look for a location in the retail district of Pomeroy to open a message studio, Hill noted.

"This is the largest town we have lived in," said Hill. "For the past five years we have lived in Montana where Anna practiced her profession. She anticipates opening as soon as her license transfers to Washington."

Swearingen will remain in Pomeroy securing all ends of the new business, eventually turning all the store's daily operations over to the capable hands of his son. For now, Swearingen said he and his wife will commute to Entiat to check on the other stores once a week or so.