Tuesday afternoon we stopped by to photograph some of the final hours at M Street Grocery before the independent supermarket shut its doors for the last time as higher rent and the inability to work out a deal with the building’s landlord squeezed the grocery off Madison. But we — and a dozen or so who stopped to peer in the darkened windows — were too late. The planned last day of liquidation ended early with many shelves still full. Though, it was noted by a few, the wine section appeared gutted.
We don’t yet know what comes next for the space. The most common hypothesis we’ve been asked about so far has been about the possibility that Whole Foods would be interested in the space. Seems like it’s always Whole Foods when people start thinking about new grocery space. Last we spoke with the corporation more than a year ago, they told us they weren’t planning to open any new stores in Seattle until they had their West Seattle situation settled. We’ll check in with the company but it seems unlikely they’d be interested in the 4,500 square-foot space.
In the meantime, there are shelves of Corn Flakes waiting for somebody.
Meanwhile, east on Madison at 13th Ave, the demolition is happening fast and furious to tear down the old auto garage and start working on the 6-story apartment development that will replace it.
What about a Metropolitan Market? The company does great things with small grocery spaces and would utilize the vacated facility perfectly (salad bar, deli counter, coffee). Met Market provides the perfect blend of upscale groceries, meat and wines while still stocking standards for the rare occasion when I really need a bag of Doritos.
They ripped me off years ago when our truck broke down a block away.
There was a question posted to the building’s message board:
“They said they were going to open at 8. There was a crowd of about 20 people there, but around 9, I gave up. Anybody have an update?”
The wine was pretty much all gone *before* the 28th, so I don’t think the liquidation sale ever happened.
The signs on the windows now say that they will not be opening again.
PCC is noticeably absent from the downtown/Capitol Hill area… (and they’re local and a co-op :))
I believe they have some sort of agreement with Central Co-op (Madison Market) to stay away from Central’s “turf”, but I’m not sure how that turf is defined or if it’s a written agreement or just verbal (or unfounded rumor?).
I’m ok with no PCC…we need affordable grocery stores, not those like PCC and Whole Foods (and now QFC to an extent) where you have to spend most of your paycheck to be able to afford to shop there.
How is QFC, PCC or Whole Foods remotely expensive? They’re all normal grocery store prices.
I hear this all the time, but can’t for the life of me figure out how people think these options are expensive.
Obviously, you’re not on a budget…Whole Foods and PCC are both pretty expensive places to shop. QFC a bit less so, but overall Safeway has far cheaper day to day prices and better discounts than QFC. Those of us on limited budgets tend to shop at Safeway, Trader Joe’s and Grocery Outlet.
There was an old grocery store on this site prior to it being torn down, and I seem to recall there was a big hullabaloo about it since it was the only grocery store in the neighborhood. I thought there was some “deal” worked out between the city and the developer of the new building that there had to be a grocery store in the new development and in exchange they got some sort of tax break, or got to build extra floors, or something of benefit to the developer. Does this ring a bell with anyone?
I’m not a regular shopper at Whole Foods, but do go there every few weeks. My impression is that it’s no more expensive than anywhere else for basic food items. But, they do stock many great specialty items (such as an amazing cheese selection, and a very high-quality prepared-foods department, for takeout), and it’s very easy to get carried away there with impulse buys. I think that’s the main reason it has the reputation of being expensive.
A co-worker of mine was just telling me the same thing. There was a deal struck with the neighborhood about having a grocery store in the building in exchange for something (I believe that it was extra floors)for the new buidling. We really need to look into this more and find out if the building owners had plans of forcing out the grocery all along.
I agree that PCC is a little on the spendy side and can see how it would be a little too close to the current wonderful co-op up the street. I love Madison Market. However I’m more apt to throw down a few extra bucks for food that is local and organic over the generic gmo crap that saturates QFC and Safeway. Also, there are things at PCC I can’t get anywhere else and if it came to the downtown/cap hill area, I’d be pretty stoked.
However, I must say, I’d rather see a whole foods than a metropolitan market. I don’t know what all people are buying at whole foods that is so expensive, but I can walk out of whole foods with a weeks worth of food for HALF of what I would spend at QFC. Also, I work next to a Metropolitan market, and they are by FAR the most expensive store I’ve seen. There are items at MetMarket that are TWICE the cost compared to MadMarket.
I’m sad to see the current business go. whatever the outcome, we don’t really have a say, we will just have to wait and see.
When we moved into the M-Street apartments, I remember reading literature about that. I thought that there had been some kind of deal to keep the grocery store because it was an important part of the neighborhood. My guess is that there was some kind of deadline on that deal, and M-Street kicked them out and plan on replacing them with something more lucrative. In this market, however, they’re nuts. The buildings across the street are still empty and that medical space has been mostly empty for years.
I can’t imagine wanting to live in that apartment again without a grocery store. It was great and I’m sad to see it go.
a SUPER market was never a good fit for the neighborhood (2 failures so far – SHOPRITE and M.STREET – take a hint already!) , but a NY style non-super market (a minimarket by seattlearea standards) would rock it. i.e. Anyone remember the old Red&White stores? Used to be one on Queen Anne, by the school on Galer…