After more than three decades, Food 4 Less, the independently owned grocery store off U.S. Highway 97, is changing its name.

Local Acres Marketplace, as it will be now called, has been slowly switching from a warehouse look of tall shelves to more of a local, boutique market for a couple of years now, said Aaron Price, store manager for nearly a decade.

The old name is associated more with corporate stores, he said.

“We want to get away from the warehouse style store,” said Price. “We’re shifting to a natural, organic and specialty store and that gets us away from the corporate ownership to be able to market as our own.”

The store is owned by Ronald Bryant, with a business entity name of MCK Management, according to the Oregon Secretary of State business registration website.

The only other Food 4 Less in Oregon is in Medford and is owned by Steve Olsrud, according to business registration filings.

At the Bend store, a new sign went up on Tuesday and the store will kick off its new name on Wednesday, timed to coincide with the its anniversary events.

It can be a bit risky when a business reinvents itself.

Sue Meyer, assistant director at the Small Business Development Center at Central Oregon Community College, said a business should ask itself three key questions: Is the change necessary? What do the customers and stakeholders have to say? And is the timing necessary?

“It’s exciting for them,” Meyer said. “I’ve observed their process over the years and they’ve passed the acid test — they’ve been dedicated to their vision and goals, listened to their customers, employees and community’s needs and wants, and have been persistent.”

For a while now, the store has been shifting focus to local products, Price said, with a section called the Local Zone. Now the store will feature more locally produced and made products from either Central Oregon or the state.

“We want people to know we’re a local company and we support local businesses,” Price said. “Over the years we’ve supported schools, Little Leagues and other charities. We’re local supporting locals.

“It’s important to us to be local. Every penny you spend in our business stays in our community.”

Filling the store, which employs about 60 people, with local products was easy compared to finding the right name, Price said. The name change has been in the works for a couple of years, he said. First the store stocked more natural and organic products, then it got a refreshed look with new paint and shelving. The last step was the name change, Price said.

“We played with the name and wanted it to convey local and it sounds fresh and outdoorsy and that’s what Central Oregon is. When we landed on it, everyone was in agreement.”