Melonique Simpson's Classification Talk

Melonique (Mel) is the owner of Grocery Outlet in Arlington. 

Mel was born in Colorado, August 8 1983.  All of her mom’s kids were born at home.  Her theme is that “it takes a village” this Is where she learned about service.  Mel’s mom taught her all the hard lessons to learn in life.  How a struggle helps you to become stronger.  There were 300 kids in the county and 5 kids in Mel’s home.  They grew up enjoying the outdoors and spending time in nature.  Here mom taught her about unconditional love.  When Mel’s dad died, her mom never dated another person, but wanted to make sure that nothing came between her and her children. 

Mel’s mom taught her about being a mother.  She raised the kids on her own and didn’t work much because she wanted to be with her kids.  Her mom passed away 7 years ago. 

Phil is Mel’s brother and taught her about drive.  Her family moved to Washington to be closer to family and her brother moved to Washington to help the family.  When they moved, Mel started working.  She cleaned houses with her uncle and then started working fast food to help her mom pay the bills.  Every night her family would appreciate the things they were grateful for.  Her brother helped her to decide to go to College after graduating high school.  Mel was the first person in her family to graduate from High School

She started doing care giving and realized that it was a very hard job.  Her brother helped her to decide to go to school in the Legal Field.  She graduated in 2010 as a paralegal.  Became a volunteer legal aid in Seattle and did that for 2 years.  Mel then pursued non-profit work after that. 

Mel’s grandma is another inspirational person and taught her the happy things about life.  She was always joyful and gave everything to help her grandkids.  She taught Mel what it was like to be a part of something.  Her grandma taught her the joy of cooking. 

Mel’s Uncle Solomon is her reason for her appreciation for the natural world.  He was one of the original members of the Love Israel family.  He is the last person of her village that is still alive.  He taught Mel how to live in the moment and not live in our heads, but to live in the present.  Her family lived with her uncle at the Love Israel Ranch. The started in a tent and eventually moved to a Yurt. 

Mel worked at the Bistro for a couple years before it was the Bistro San Martin.  It was helpful because she was a server at other places after that.  Living at the Ranch helped her family to appreciate everything in life. 

Mel met Mike in 2011 after graduating from Edmonds Community College.  Mike took Mel’s daughter in as his own.  She never called anyone else dad and they feel so lucky to have Mike in their lives.  Mike asked Mel to marry him in Rome in 2015 while Mel was going to UW to become a lawyer and work in non-profits.  She graduated from UW.

Mikes family has been in the grocery business for generations.  After he left the golf business he decided to look at that again.  He went to Wenatchee where his uncle owned a Grocery Outlet.

They were married in September 2015.  In one week they found out that they were going to have a grocery story, that they were going to have a baby and they got married.   They knew that a Grocery Outlet was going into Arlington, but they knew that most Grocery Outlet owner have to move.   After graduating in June, they began training in the Marysville store.  A month later they applied for the Arlington store that many other people applied for.  They named themselves kismet groceries because they knew that it was meant to be.  They knew that the Arlington store was for them because it was where their roots were and they belonged.  They are excited to be at Grocery Outlet and to be a part of the community. 

Mel believed that it is important to impart the same joy and wisdom that she was taught to her children.  She involves them in the community through service projects, girl scouts and other activities.  Mel believes that it all worked out because she provides service to her community by having a grocery store, she gets to be a nourisher, which was her role in her family and she gets to serve in her community.