Our History
Stormans, Incorporated is a fourth‑generation, family‑owned business that serves as the umbrella corporation for businesses throughout Thurston County, including Ralph’s Thriftway, Bayview Thriftway, Bayview School of Cooking, Bayview Catering, Finishing Touch Florist, Celebrations Party Rental in Lacey and NW Remedies in Olympia.
“Both Ralph’s Thriftway & Bayview Thriftway are the only two locally owned, independent supermarkets in Thurston County. They are owned and operated by the Stormans Family. The Stormans were born and raised in this community and continue to reside here.”
Ralph’s Thriftway
Ralph’s Thriftway was opened on November 29th, 1956. It was a replacement store for Ralph Stormans’ first store built in 1944 in downtown Olympia called Ralph’s Food Center.
When Ralph’s Thriftway was built it was the state of the art showcase for supermarkets. The Daily Olympian called it “A mammoth food emporium” and in fact it was one of the largest stores in the northwest. It boasted such features as a play area for kids, children’s clothing, automatic doors, a covered area for picking up your groceries and a drive‑through parking lot and check-in. The store included two leased departments. “Blue Ribbon Meats” was leased by John Gosk and “Bailey Drugs” was leased by Al Bailey.
In 1977 Bailey Drugs was purchased and Thriftway was expanded to include the entire area. Along with modernizing the entire store, supermarket “scanning” was installed. Ralph’s Thriftway was the first store in the entire region and the 200th store nationwide to install a scanning system. The store installed a state of the art heat reclaim system that greatly reduced the need for electric and gas heating not only saving money but also conserving our natural resources.
Today Ralph’s is known for its quality products, wide variety of local and unique items, numerous services it offers and of course it’s great employees.
“With our strong commitment to this area, we are committed to this area, we believe that it is our privilege and responsibility to return profits to the local community as many ways as possible.”
Bayview Thriftway
Ralph’s Food Center #2 was located on Puget Sound next to the Olympia Yacht Club. The property and building was purchased from Brenner Oyster Company. The building was then remodeled into a state of the art supermarket. Unlike today, groceries were unloaded from trucks onto a conveyor belt and stored in the second floor of the building. Product was then picked from the second floor storage area and sent down another conveyor belt into the store. This was a highly efficient process for its time and allowed volume purchasing to get the lowest cost of product.
In December of 1963 the original Brenner building was torn down and replaced with a new modern store. The store featured a host of “hi‑tech” equipment and unique decor. When the store reopened the name was changed to Ralph’s Thriftway.
In 1973 the store was again remodeled and the name was changed to Mark-it Foods. Typically the customer would put empty boxes on a flat bed cart. The boxes were left from stocking the products on the shelf and were piled in a bin at the front of the store. Customers used grease pencils to mark the prices on the products they bought. This eliminated the need for the store to spend the time marking the price on all products.
In 1984 the store was again extensively remodeled to reflect the modern supermarket and make additional space for the recently added Bayview Catering business. New registers with scanners replaced the old price stamping registers. The store was enlarged and a full service bakery and a deli/restaurant were added. A deck was built outside on the west‑side of the store and a second story balcony was added inside for customer to sit and enjoy their meals from the deli/restaurant. The store name was then updated to Bayview Marketplace.
In 1992 Bayview Marketplace was renamed Bayview Thriftway. Bayview’s last remodel was finished in June of 2003. A complete exterior remodel was done adding a new entry foyer under a tall glass tower structure. The upstairs seating area with its incredible view of Puget Sound was completely remodeled to reflect a quality dining room experience and the addition of a kitchen to accommodate the addition of Bayview School of Cooking.