A new Queen Anne grocery was added last week to Quality Food Centers' chain of 77 stores in Washington and Oregon. Located at Fifth Avenue North and Mercer Street, it will be open 24 hours a day and replaces the longtime QFC at First Avenue North and Republican Street, noted spokeswoman Kristin Maas. "The other one closes tonight," she added during a preview party the day before the grocery's grand opening on May 2.
Billed as the company's first "Urban Market," the "Uptown QFC" is the anchor tenant for the Lumen condo-and-retail project that replaced the former home of Tower Records. "We are very pleased to be part of the Uptown community," said QFC president Donna Giordana in a press release.
At 45,000 square feet, the new store is more than twice the size of the old one, and it is also larger than the company's average size of 38,000 square feet, Maas said.
The space came in handy.
The produce section, which includes a table for organic produce, is much larger than the one in the old store, as is the floral section, she noted. "We have a pharmacy, which we didn't have at the old store," Maas added.
Also new, she said, are an in-house Starbucks, a bistro offering meals to go, a larger bakery, a larger deli, pizza cooked in a hearth-fire oven, a larger meat department, sushi made in the store, a bigger seafood department and a gourmet cheese section with its own cheese steward.
Also featured at the new store are a larger beer section, a larger wine section and a climate-controlled wine cellar staffed by a wine steward, Haas said. "We will sell more Washington wine than anyone in the state."
The press release notes the store will carry more than 26,000 prod- ucts, and Maas said that includes marked sections for "natural" products spread throughout the grocery.
Staffing for the store - which has 161 spaces of underground parking - is approximately 60, which is twice as many as the old store. Most of the staff from the old store will be working in the new one, supplemented by QFC employees from other company stores in Seattle, Maas said.
Another advantage for the new store is a lack of nearby competition, compared with the old QFC, which went head to head with a Safeway and the Metropolitan Market in the neighborhood, she said. "I think we'll see different [customer] demographics."
Maas didn't know what will happen to the old store next to the Seattle Center. QFC doesn't own the property, she explained.[[In-content Ad]]
