Ballinger Thriftway: More Than a Grocery Store — Family, Community, and a Shoreline Staple

For nearly three decades, Ballinger Thriftway has been much more than a place to pick up groceries, it’s been a cornerstone of the Shoreline community. Opened in 1996, this independent, family-owned store is deeply rooted in the Ballinger neighborhood, built on relationships, trust, and a genuine commitment to serving the people who walk through its doors every day. Owned and operated by Dave and Morgan, with Morgan’s husband Luke joining the team this year, Ballinger Thriftway is run like an extended family, one that truly knows and cares for its community.

Q & A with Morgan, owner and operator, Ballinger Thriftway

Q: How long have you been in business?
A: The store opened in 1996. Dave was with the company since it began and worked with the founder at other locations starting as a courtesy clerk in 1983. Dave and Morgan now own the store together, and Morgan’s husband Luke joined the team this year. We have weekly dinners together and really feel like family.

Q: What inspired you to start your business?
A: The founder of Ballinger Thriftway retired in 2017 and gave Dave the opportunity to buy the store at the time. Dave raised his family just 5 minutes from the store. His children went to North City Elementary, Kellogg Middle School, and Shorecrest High School. Dave has been part of the Shoreline community for over 3 decades.

Q: What do you love the most about Shoreline?
A: Shoreline has a friendly, family-oriented feeling and people who care about our neighborhood. Being an independent, family-owned grocery store, we understand this feeling and we love our community. We enjoy seeing our everyday customers to catch up on life and we love meeting new people stopping by the store for the first time. Our community really comes together and helps support each other to make a real difference. This year our community was stronger than ever, it was really incredible to see.

Q: Why is your business based in Shoreline?
A: The Ballinger store was four walls and an empty space when we arrived in 1996. We opened the store in hopes of becoming part of the community and filling the need for a locally owned store.

Q: What’s one thing you wish your customers knew about you but never ask?
A: One thing many customers do not realize is we have always been a local, family-owned business. We have raised our families in Shoreline, so this community’s well-being could not mean more to us.

Q: What has been your proudest moment in business so far?
A: One of our proudest accomplishments is having Shoreline Public Schools name us Community Partner of the Year in 2025. We work very hard to support the schools in our area and we are heavily involved with multiple local food banks. We work with Hopelink, Concern for Neighbors, and Annie’s Food Kitchen every week.

Q: How do you approach customer service, and what sets you apart?
A: We are ingrained in this community and we approach customer service in the old-fashioned way. We are always doing our best to put the customers first. We know our regulars by first name, we take pride in being able to watch their families grow up right in front of us.

We offer Senior Tuesdays where our seniors receive 10% off of their order. We value our customers and look forward to being a part of their day. One thing we are doing that is getting harder to find is bringing in products customers are looking for. As an independent locally owned store, we are able to make decisions in-store about which products we choose to carry to help support the needs of our customers.

Q: How does your business support or give back to the local community?
A: We work with the local food banks Concern for Neighbors, Hopelink, and Annie’s Community Kitchen every single week. We have a wine collaboration with Virtue Cellars in Edmonds — all proceeds of this wine get donated to the Angel Fund, which ensures every child can have a school lunch.

We’ve also started a whiskey raffle at the store with the saying “Do what you CAN.” We save up all of our allocated whiskeys and raffle them off twice a year. For every can donated, we hand out a raffle ticket. This year, with the help of our generous community, we collected 7 pallets of food to give back to our local food banks.

This holiday season, we donated 50 turkeys to the Kellogg School District for their yearly food drive to feed 60 families. Then Concern for Neighbors reached out to help feed 1,000 families with prepared deli sides. Our Deli Manager Karey stepped up in a big way to make this happen. Karey and Morgan, along with volunteers including Dave’s daughters, stayed overnight to package deli sides so everything could be delivered on time.

Dave’s daughters grew up playing sports and attending school in this community. We also love opening our doors to Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and team fundraisers to help make a positive impact.

Q: What’s your next upcoming event?
A: We will be hosting our Summer Open House, with around 40 vendors sampling and promoting their products in-store. It’s always such a fun turnout! We’ll be promoting it in-store and on our social media.

Our Wine Steward, Lenny, hosts a tasting every Friday. He updates his calendar monthly on Instagram, and you can also find his weekly tasting calendar on his desk in front of the department when you visit the store.

Connect with Ballinger Thriftway

📍 20150 Ballinger Way NE, Shoreline, WA 98155
📞 206-368-7221
🌐 Email: ballingerthriftway@gmail.com
🌐 Website: https://www.ballingerthriftway.com/
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ballingerthriftway/
📘 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ballingermarketthriftway/