That’s the 2018 price, by the way

Company officials say “performance and growth potential” are behind the planned closure of the Broadway Whole Foods grocery store.

“Like any business, we regularly evaluate the performance and growth potential of each of our stores and make decisions to position the company for long-term success,” a Whole Foods spokesperson told CHS Saturday morning.

The company says “all team members will transfer to roles” at other area Whole Foods Market locations. The final day of business is planned for June 20th. Clearance sales begin now.

“Our stores remain an important part of our growth strategy, and we currently have more than 100 new stores in the pipeline and continuously explore new sites,” the spokesperson for the Amazon-owned grocery giant said.

CHS reported here on the October 2018 debut of the much anticipated two-level, 40,000-square-foot addition to the Capitol Hill-area grocery scene.

The new supermarket at the base of The Danforth, a 17-story luxury apartment building that opened that summer, was in the works as Amazon acquired the grocery company and came as Whole Foods officials said the First Hill Streetcar line and proximity to First Hill’s hospitals and nearby Seattle University were important factors in choosing the Broadway and Madison location as was the coming RapidRide G transformation of Madison that opened in September.

Eight years later, the investment has not paid off.

The change will be especially painful for First Hill residents losing walking and transit access to a major grocery store. The Harvard Market QFC a few blocks away and downhill at Broadway and Pike will now be the closest large grocery option.

The area has also been at the center of a growing public safety debate with plans for a county mental health crisis center across the Madison-Broadway intersection.

The closure is only the latest change in Capitol Hill and Central Seattle’s shifting grocery economy, The core remains in place — for now. Following last year’s pullback from a $25 billion Albertsons-Kroger merger, Capitol Hill still has two QFCs and two Safeways. A third QFC is closed and lined up for demolition to make way for a new six-story mixed-use development on 15th Ave E that is unlikely to include a return of a major grocer. The 15th at John Safeway, meanwhile, will be demolished, too, as the company’s property at the corner is redeveloped as two new five-story buildings including a new grocery, around 330 market rate apartment units, some new, smaller retail spaces, and an underground parking lot for more than 300 cars.

The industry’s approach to customer relations here has also shifted as the companies have implemented changes like closed-off exits and mandatory receipt checks to deter theft and crime in the stores.

Smaller, nimble players have joined the mix including H-Mart’s “urban convenience” concept M2M which opened above busy Capitol Hill Station in 2022 while the neighborhood’s Trader Joe’s remains bustling and the Central Co-op has been doing business here for 45 years.

Meanwhile, grocery delivery revenue has continued to grow, raising the bar for in-store performance. While Whole Foods is referring shoppers to its other area stores, it is also reminding that customers “can shop Amazon.com/grocery for a broad selection of 3 million grocery and household essentials.”

Word of the Broadway Whole Foods closure spread quickly Friday as employees were officially notified of the change and shoppers shared the news on social media. “You guys, why is Whole Foods on Madison & Broadway closing down?,” a post in the CHS Facebook Group asked Friday morning. Speculation, lamentation, and criticism over the store’s layout and Amazon ownership spread quickly.

The Danforth’s new 40,000-square-foot hole in the commercial real estate market will make the second major Amazon-shaped gap in the area. The boarded-up 8,000-square-foot E Pike grocery formerly home to Amazon Fresh has remained empty since its equally abrupt April 2024 closure after four years of business on the block.

There are other major gaps to fill including spaces left empty by tumult in the drugstore industry as the major chains have filed for bankruptcy to settle federal and state opioid lawsuits.

With Capitol Hill’s densely packed population of active consumers, there is always hope of change and renewal. Friday, the E Olive Way building that has been left empty and boarded-up by the exit of coffee giant Starbucks over purported public safety concerns three years ago leapt back into motion as the home for a new All the Best pet care and supply shop.

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