Sneak peek inside the first Puget Sound-area New Seasons Market (Photos)

Nov 10, 2016, 7:25am PST

Coral GarnickStaff WriterPuget Sound Business Journal

Let the granola war begin. The first Puget Sound-area New Seasons Market is now here.

Portland-based New Seasons first announced the expected opening last summer and it is now opening the doors to the latest edition of the growing natural foods grocery scene in the Puget Sound region.

New Seasons Market opened its first Puget Sound-area store at 2755 77th Ave. S.E. on… more

"I think there's a food movement happening right now with customers," New Seasons President and CEO Wendy Collie said when the company first announced its plan to open a store on Mercer Island. "People want to know where (their food) comes from and what's in it."

This is the latest expansion of several by natural food markets, such as Seattle-based PCC Natural Markets and Metropolitan Market as well as Whole Foods, that are expanding in or entering the Puget Sound-area market.

New Seasons has already announced a second location in Ballard, which is set to open in the fall of 2017. It is also vying for the anchor tenant space in the new Capitol Hill light-rail station on Broadway. Seattle-based Central Co-op, however has taken on New Seasons in that battle.

The grocer calls itself a champion of the regional food economy. The company partners with farmers, ranchers and producers to deliver regional options and pairs that with other organic favorites and grocery classics. It will have 40,000 unique items in the 37,000-square-foot store located at 2755 77th Ave S.E.

Some of the local venders New Seasons has partnered with are Miss Marjorie's, a plantain chip company, Parfait Ice Cream and Rusty's Famous Cheesecake in Seattle; Seven Red Tagines, a sauce company, on Mercer Island, and Mt. Townsend Creamery, a cheese company in Port Townsend.

New Seasons Mercer Island, as other New Seasons locations, was also designed as a community gathering place. The store includes indoor seating and a covered outdoor dining area. At the “Sips” counter, customers can select from chef-prepared snacks, featured wines by the glass and rotating taps of eight draft beers.

The store has also partnered with Mercer Island Youth & Family Services, St. Monica’s Friends for the Needy, HopeLink and New Horizons to have one of them collect food that cannot be sold in the store but is still safe and healthy to eat.

New Seasons now has 20 locations and employs 3,970 people in Washington, Oregon and California.