PCC Community Markets to Reopen Downtown Seattle Store
After opening and then closing a store in downtown Seattle nearly two years later, PCC Community Markets is back. The co-op announced that it plans to return to the city with a new small format market taking up part of the original store’s footprint.
The streamlined version spans about 6,000 square feet and will cater to the needs of urban residents and workers. Shoppers can pick up meals, snacks and other items for on-the-go and take-home consumption and browse from a limited assortment of grocery items and household essentials.
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The rest of the space will be used to house the co-op’s main offices. The lease for PCC’s current headquarters is up in 2025, so the move makes sense geographically and economically, given the fact that the organization is bound by law to fulfill its long-term lease in downtown Seattle.
President and CEO Krish Srinivasan said the smaller format concept was based on learnings from the market that opened in January 2022 and closed in January 2024 due to slower post-pandemic traffic.
“We continue to hear – from co-op members, our staff, and downtown residents – about a strong need in the city center for the kind of unique shopping and dining experience that only PCC offers. We are thrilled to be able to meet that need by returning with a new concept that promises significantly better economics than a full-service grocery store,” he explained, adding, “As a community-owned grocer, our business decisions strive to balance people, planet and profit. We believe that recommitting to good food in Seattle’s city center while also meaningfully reducing the cost of administrative office overhead is a good example of how, at PCC, purpose and profit are two sides of the same coin.”
Srinivasan thanked the PCC’s landlord, the Wright Runstad property group that leases and manages the site, for helping shape a mutually beneficial solution. He also expressed gratitude to Seattle city and civic leaders who have supported the co-op’s presence in downtown Seattle.
Earlier this summer, the CEO reported that the company’s results at the end of the second quarter “was an important step in the right direction.” During that period, overall sales beat expectations.
PCC operates 15 stores in the Puget Sound area, including the cities of Bellevue, Bothell, Burien, Edmonds, Issaquah, Kirkland, Redmond and Seattle. The Seattle stores are in the neighborhoods of Ballard, Central District, Columbia City, Fremont, Green Lake, View Ridge and West Seattle. The co-op was also named one of Progressive Grocer’s 10 Most Sustainable Grocers for 2024.
