Old Chronicle building to become ‘wellness center’

The project is being spearheaded by 28-year-old Bets Stelzer, daughter of Azure Standard CEO David Stelzer. Bets Stelzer has run Hood River’s Farm Stand in the Gorge for the past eight years, and has been interested in a second location for seven of those years. In particular, she wanted something in The Dalles, as she and her four siblings, who she is collaborating with on the project, all either have houses or live in The Dalles.

Stelzer herself lives in The Dalles and said that in some ways, her desire to bring Farm Stand to the city is selfish, because she wants to have easier access to the natural and healthy foods where she lives, rather than going to Hood River.

Now with the second location finally becoming a reality, Stelzer said she’s genuinely excited to fill the need for healthy, natural and environmentally conscious food and products in The Dalles.

“I live in The Dalles and I desperately want that need filled,” she said. “Especially talking about a health food store or just like the brands that I normally buy. I can’t find them at Safeway or Fred Meyer. I know a lot of people that do more conscious shopping have to go to Portland or Hood River to do that.”

In addition to Farm Stand, the former Chronicle building will house six other businesses the Stelzers will be leasing to, all of which were hand-selected to be a part of what will essentially become a wellness hub in The Dalles.

“We’ve really been able to pick and choose businesses with people who we really, really believe in,” Bets Stelzer said. “Everyone is centered around health and wellness.”

Though she can’t yet reveal the names of the businesses that will be occupying space in the building, Stelzer said there will be yoga, health elixirs, and hopefully even therapeutic elements like massage or acupuncture. The businesses will all be independent from one another, but all have common values, which is something Stelzer said they looked for.

Another exciting part of the project is the potential for a “kid’s corner,” which would be a space for kids to try entrepreneurship.

Both Stelzer and her sister have 8-year-old daughters, she said, and both girls have an interest in business, which is where the idea came from.

“We’re like ‘It’d be so nice if a business downtown set up a little lemonade stand that kids could sign up to take an afternoon at and try out business,” she said. “We said, ‘Oh, that would go so well with Farm Stand,’ but then we realized we don’t really have the space for it.”

However, after Stelzer did a tour of the Chronicle building and saw the sheer size of the place, she knew it would be perfect for everything they’d been dreaming of, but hadn’t had the space for.

“We really are excited about the amount of square footage,” she said. “We will be able to have the luxury to put in a kid’s corner and potentially do some classes and have a larger supplement room. Just all of these things that I’ve wanted to do with my current location that I haven’t been able to do.”

Though the actual opening of the new Farm Stand location, and the hub as a whole, is quite a ways out, Stelzer said she and her siblings are just as excited about witnessing the development process of the building, as it will be an incredible learning opportunity.

Stelzer said that her siblings working on the project are all in their 20s and though they know a lot about retail, none of them know much about development yet, so they’re looking forward to learning firsthand.

The hope will be to have most of the businesses in the building and ready to go by summer 2023, Stelzer said, but getting everyone situated will likely be a slow and steady process.

“It’s just going to be a one at a time situation,” Stelzer said. “Hopefully you’ll start seeing some signage go up and businesses starting to move in there over the course of 2023.”

Farm Stand in the Gorge is located at 1009 12th St. in Hood River and is open Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.