Black Diamond's Grocery Store Has Always Followed the Town. Now It's at Ten Trails.
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
"GOING TO THE GROCERY STORE. Sounds like a fairly simple task, unless of course you live in Black Diamond." Ken Jensen opened a history of the town's company store with that line. It first ran in the Black Diamond Bulletin in winter 2010/2011. He went on to say that a full shopping list meant a drive to Maple Valley, Covington or Enumclaw for the nearest Safeway or QFC.
That sentence stayed true for almost sixteen more years. On Saturday, Oct. 3, 2026, with a drumroll, local dignitaries cut the ribbon on a new Safeway at 32589 Main St. VOICE of the Valley reported that the Black Diamond Historical Society calls it the town's first supermarket since 2006.
The location matters as much as the store. Black Diamond has had a main grocery for most of its history, and each one stood where the town was centered at the time. The new one is at Main Street and Ten Trails Parkway SE, inside the Ten Trails Town Center. Opening day showed where Black Diamond's center is now.
The town's grocery history fits in one table. Most of it comes from Jensen's account of the Pacific Coast Coal Co. store and the stores that followed it.
| Era | Location | Who ran it |
|---|---|---|
| Before about 1915 | Lawson Hill | The coal company's general store, before it moved |
| About 1915 to about 1963 | Railroad Avenue | Pacific Coast Coal Co., then Harry McDowell from 1942, then the Zumek brothers |
| About 1963 to 2006 | 3rd Avenue | The Zumeks until 1987, then new owners until 2006 |
| 2006 to Oct. 2026 | None | Two convenience stores and Lake Sawyer Grocery |
| Oct. 3, 2026 onward | 32589 Main St., Ten Trails Town Center | Safeway |
The first move in the table was a company decision. A photo caption in Jensen's piece shows the Black Diamond General Store around 1915, "shortly after its move from Lawson Hill." For the next few decades the store stood wherever the coal company had put it. The company's last mine in Black Diamond, Mine 11, closed in 1927. As mining faded, the company sold the homes in town, and in 1942 it sold the store and its stock to Harry McDowell.
After McDowell died, the Zumek brothers bought the store. They ran it on Railroad Avenue until about 1963, when the building was torn down. They then opened what Jensen calls their "new" Black Diamond store on 3rd Avenue. The grocery had moved into the postwar downtown, and it stayed there under the Zumeks until 1987 and under later owners until 2006. In Jensen's 2010/2011 account, the site held a mini-mart, a gas station, a pawn shop and a teriyaki restaurant.
The same account mentions the independent Black Diamond Store, also called The People's Store. At the time Jensen wrote, that building was Baker Street Books. The buildings stayed in use after their grocery days, but the groceries left with each change in the town.
Jensen titled the last section of his piece "And then there were none." He listed what was left: two local convenience stores and the Lake Sawyer Grocery. For the rest of a shopping list, he wrote, "it's into the car and off to somewhere else."
He described the closest full store as the Four Corners Safeway, "only a few miles down the Maple Valley-Black Diamond Road." His bigger complaint was about where the town's spending ended up.
"But it's more than just the inconvenience—those tax dollars are going to someone else's town rather than enriching our own community."
His next line was a prediction: "with development on the way, it's only a matter of time until we can keep our money from scurrying out of town." He was right that development would bring a supermarket. The wait was much longer than "a matter of time" suggested, and the store did not return to 3rd Avenue. It went to the newer side of town.
The opening program was what you would expect from a large chain. In the week before, the Courier-Herald listed the plan: a 9 a.m. ribbon cutting, cookie decorating and henna artists until noon, then face painting and balloon animals until 4 p.m. Blitz the Seahawk and the Seattle Seahawks Dancers appeared at noon, and inside the store there were vendor samples, gift card giveaways and opening deals.
VOICE of the Valley reported that Safeway gave donations to the Black Diamond Historical Society and the Black Diamond Community Center. Shoppers entered a raffle for $300 gift cards. The Historical Society that received a donation is also the source for the "first since 2006" count that marked the occasion.
For a town that went two decades with only convenience stores and Lake Sawyer Grocery, the new store's size and long hours are the real change. A June 2025 Shopping Center Business report described the planned store as 58,000 square feet, with a full-service deli counter, a bakery and a pharmacy.
As of October 2026, Safeway's own pages list the following. The store can change these at any time.
Safeway's service list for the store does not include a fuel station. The store is open 20 hours a day, and filling a prescription, picking up a bakery order or getting coffee no longer means a trip down Maple Valley-Black Diamond Road.
The 2025 retail report described the Safeway as the anchor of the town center. Anchor stores usually open first, and the rest of the center follows. In May 2026 the Puget Sound Business Journal profiled Visconsi, the developer, and listed what is planned for Ten Trails Town Center: a KeyBank, a Quick Quack car wash, a Chevron with a convenience store and fuel, and an early-learning facility. The profile also mentions space for restaurants, coffee, medical and dental offices, and general retail, but it does not name tenants for those uses.
The developer's site plan assigns one lot to KeyBank and marks a daycare lot "Pending." The other lots are listed as available. None of these projects has a public opening date. For now the Safeway is the only open business in what is meant to become a full commercial block.
That makes this the fifth chapter in the table above. The coal company put the store on Lawson Hill and then on Railroad Avenue. The Zumeks moved it to 3rd Avenue as the town changed after the mines. After nearly twenty years without a supermarket, it now stands at Main Street and Ten Trails Parkway SE, and the bank, car wash, fuel station and early-learning center are planned around it.
New anchor stores in growing parts of Pierce and King counties are a big part of what we follow at The Misener Group. If you'd like to know how the Ten Trails build-out might affect a home you own or are considering in Black Diamond, let's elevate your experience. Schedule a consult.
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