New owners of Brun’s Apple Market address community concerns

The new owners of Brun’s Apple Market in the Whiteaker neighborhood are working to address community concerns that have emerged since they took over the grocery store earlier this year.

Aman Kaur and Daman Khurana, who took ownership in March, say they’re committed to maintaining the market as a community anchor while making improvements based on customer feedback.

“Our goal here is to be the go-to place … for basically anything,” Khurana told Lookout Eugene-Springfield. “We want good for the community.”

The ownership transition has sparked unease among neighbors, who have questioned  product selection and the addition of U-Hauls taking up parking lot space. Rumors have circulated about the store’s future.

The market at 849 W. Sixth Ave. was originally a Safeway, which closed in 1991. The Bruns family then reopened the store as a Red Apple Market. The market was passed down to a younger generation of the Bruns family before being sold to Kaur and Khurana.

New to the community

Kaur and Khurana moved here from Washington, where they co-own a market with Kaur’s father. Khurana is a pharmacist who has worked in retail settings. Because they purchased the store from a distance and were not Eugene residents, Khurana said they didn’t have time to get to know the community before taking over.

“But as we live here, more and more we’re coordinating with the community and the people, so we’re learning,” Khurana said. 

New owners must reapply to accept WIC and SNAP when grocery store ownership changes, so the store temporarily couldn’t accept these payments. Khurana and Kaur also switched distribution companies from UNFI to URM, temporarily leading to empty shelves and different products.

Those changes caught some customers off guard.

“I think some people thought that we were going to close and open something else, or, I don’t know, that we were moving away from food,” Kaur said.

Addressing specifics

The addition of U-Haul rentals has generated mixed reactions. While some appreciate the convenience, others have complained about trailers blocking parking and creating safety hazards.

“We’re working on moving the U-Hauls, probably putting them in the back, so that will help with the traffic in the parking lot,” Khurana said. 

Rumors about replacing the liquor store inside the market with a pharmacy have circulated, but the owners denied this. 

“That’s not true at all,” Kaur said.

The couple, who are married, believe a pharmacy would benefit the area, which lacks one. If implemented, the pharmacy would go in an unused back space without replacing existing store items.

Kim Roellig, who lives four blocks from the market, supports adding a pharmacy with one caveat: accessibility. She currently drives to Costco for pharmacy services because she dislikes long lines and unpleasant environments at other pharmacies.

“I think it could be really good for our neighborhood, because we have a lot of people in this neighborhood that have transportation challenges,” she said. The neighborhood also has an aging population and an unhoused community, she said.

“The idea of a pharmacy can only exist if we have enough people supporting it,” Khurana said. “If the community just wants to buy food, and they don’t want to have a pharmacy here, then we won’t go that direction.”

Roellig’s most significant concern involves the produce section, which she said has recently appeared understocked. 

“My fear is that they’re moving to like, a Family Dollar model, where they’re not going to sell perishables, or they’re not going to have much in the way of perishables, because they don’t want to accept that amount of loss,” Roellig said. “And that would move us closer to a food desert situation here in Whiteaker.”

Khurana pushed back on the idea that the store is eliminating products with a short shelf life.

“We have fresh produce coming to the store three times a week,” he said. “We have had no change there since we took over. Our produce coolers underwent some repair and maintenance but everything is back to normal now. We continue to order only the freshest local produce if possible. For example we carry Northwest lettuce, and only when local doesn’t become available then we get from California or other places based on vendor availability.”

Looking forward

Both owners acknowledge that since they moved here from Seattle, they’re still learning about the close-knit Whiteaker neighborhood and its specific needs. 

“We encourage everybody who has any concerns to come talk to us directly,” Khurana said. “We go through our suggestion box every two weeks, and we want to implement suggestions from the community.”

The market continues to support local vendors, including Red Hen Bakery and The Bread Stop, and the owners say they welcome partnerships with others. And the owners have pledged monthly donations to Food for Lane County. 

The new owners have brought back loyalty cards after customers questioned their discontinuation, restored Instacart delivery that previous owners had stopped, and retained 35 employees, with 16 of them walking to work from the neighborhood.

The store has been a valuable asset to Roellig and her family, and she wants to see it succeed. The key for her will be whether the new owners can balance their business goals with community needs.

Kaur and Khurana say they will. 

“We by no means want to close this place down, ever,” Khurana said. “We want to remain open … for the people. We want them to like the store and to rely on the store. That’s our goal.”