A natural market in Seaside is changing ownership.

Natasha Montero and Mike Hamilton, who have operated Hamilton Market since 2019, are leaving Seaside for Olympia, Washington. Their family is selling the property to Mahadev Bahadur Sapkota, of Gita Inc. The business will be renamed the Seaside Market.

“We always wanted to own a mom-and-pop shop, but in this economy it’s just not sustainable,” Montero said.

A fixture in Seaside, the store opened in 1951 as the Ocean Vista Shopping Center, and was owned by Robert Staley and Wayne Smith. The family of Randy Frank, who is today a city councilor, owned the market from 1965 to 1967.

Ken Smith and his family changed the name to Ken and Sons Select Market when they bought the store in 1967. They sold the property in 2019 to Montero and Hamilton.

Raised in Seattle, Montero and Hamilton moved to Seaside about six months before making the decision to purchase the new market with family member Bill Montero.

Between Natasha Montero and Mike Hamilton, they worked for Whole Foods for a combined 35 years, with experience in management, purchasing and dry goods.

“It’s been amazing,” Natasha Montero said of Hamilton Market. “But with COVID and the inflation cost of goods, it’s at the point where it’s breaking everybody. With everything going up, it’s just so hard to watch people literally spend their last dollar on a pack of $5 cupcakes.”

Hamilton is training for a second career as an electrician. Natasha Montero plans to work for a local school district and to train for a career in real estate.

“I’d like to add sincerely, I love the community of people that we’ve met and the relationships we’ve built,” Natasha Montero said. “This was one of the best experiences because it was such a warm, inviting group of people who are all looking out for each other. And I could not have gotten that in a bigger company like Whole Foods.”