Peterson’s on Morrison Closes Shop

Customers petitioned to save the convenience store, but it closed for business in early January.

(Daniel Stindt)
By Katie Shepherd

The downtown convenience store Peterson's on Morrison closed this month after a drawn-out battle with Prosper Portland.

Fans of the spot to buy snacks, drinks and cigarettes protested the closure, signing petitions asking the city to reconsider forcing the shop out of its downtown location.

The city's urban renewal agency plans to remodel the parking garage where Peterson's occupied a street-level storefront. The improvements will bring faster elevators and add more storefronts to the first floor of the building.

"I'm really disgusted," says owner Doug Peterson, who closed his doors Jan. 7. "We were a needed service, and they just wrote us off."

The city will renovate the garage and give priority to new retail businesses run by women and minorities. The businesses that were displaced by the renovation can apply to rent space when the building opens again, but Peterson says he doubts his store will meet new requirements for tenants.

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