Removal of old Lamb’s Thriftway signage

Garden Home Market Place

Forrest Lamb first built and opened the Garden Home Thriftway in 1957. The store and the mall store buildings were owned by Forrest and Neva Lamb and then by their three sons, Bob, Gary and Colin Lamb. Forrest died in 1986 and Gary Lamb died in 1999. Neva died in 2005 at age 97. Bob Lamb sold the business of the grocery store in June of 2015. Colin Lamb retains ownership of the grocery building and the mall complex.

In 2015, Lamb’s Thriftway grocery business was sold to a local company, Signature Northwest LLC , whose CEO is Mark Miller. This company also purchased three other Lamb grocery businesses and two Bales Thriftway stores, one in Cedar Mill and one in Aloha. Mike Babbitt is the store manager.

The large Lamb’s Thriftway Marketplace sign was removed from the front of the building in June, 2018 for repainting and renaming the store to be Garden Home Marketplace. The store continues to host the florist, liquor store, the Post Office, Wells Fargo Bank, and the Garden Home Growlers. The Growler section has grown beyond the first assigned space inside the main door and now flows into the former floral department with six tables.

The one-hundred year old bell from the former Garden Home Community Church continues on loan from the Methodist Conference and hangs in the bell tower at the main entrance. The store continues its important role supporting and recognizing community activities. The Garden Home History Project has an annual Bell Ringing event to publicize Garden Home’s unique history.

Click here to read more about the history of Lamb’s Thriftway.