Tag Archives: groceries

Amid Capitol Hill’s growing set of shuttered spaces, Seattle considers ban on agreements that block new groceries and pharmacies

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With two major grocery store locations shuttered and two former big chain drugstores empty and boarded-up on Capitol Hill, Seattle leaders are looking at a ban on legal agreements they say are keeping some of the city’s prime spaces from being filled with new businesses.

Mayor Bruce Harrell included the plan in his 2026 budget proposal, proposing legislation “that will prohibit the use of restrictive or negative covenants preventing a property from being used as a grocery store or pharmacy.”

“My proposed budget increases the City’s food investments by 20%, however, affordable food and medicine are inaccessible for too many Seattleites. When a company closes a grocery store or pharmacy, they can add a restrictive covenant into a property’s deed or lease that blocks a new grocery or pharmacy from locating at the same place,” Harrell said in his announcement of the legislation to be considered by the Seattle City Council. “They do this to block competitors, and these actions harm neighborhoods and contribute to grocery and pharmacy deserts.”

The Harrell administration says the legislation would “make these restrictive covenants illegal in Seattle.” Continue reading →

Seattle Police Department conducts ‘retail theft operation’ at a Capitol Hill QFC — UPDATE: $281.91

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A neighborhood public safety walk focused on Broadway and Pike last spring

Noontime shoppers inside a Capitol Hill QFC grocery store mixed with some unusual customers last Thursday.

Seattle Police detectives and East Precinct patrol officers were inside the Broadway at Pike grocery conducting “a retail theft operation.”

“There were three arrests and several deterred thefts,” SPD reports.

The operation appears to have been an unusual assignment for SPD’s General Investigations Unit. Past operations SPD has touted have focused on downtown stores or big brand merchandise. Continue reading →

City-run grocery stores in New York? Seattle Councilmember ‘not looking to legislate anything’ after Broadway Whole Foods shutdown

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Zohran Mamdani’s political surge in New York City, of course, has a grocery store element.

Soaring prices, faded services, and eroded humanity are an industry-wide trend that is hitting hardest in America’s largest, busiest, most expensive cities.

With this month’s nearly overnight closure of the Broadway Whole Foods only the latest major grocery corporation cutback in the city, don’t look to Seattle leadership to champion city-run grocery stores — yet.

“I’m not looking to legislate anything,” District 3 representative Joy Hollingsworth told CHS about her comments following the rapid shutdown of the Broadway at Madison Whole Foods two weeks ago. Continue reading →

Cyberattack at massive grocery distributor hitting Capitol Hill-area stores large and small

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(Image: Amazon Fresh)

Shopping in Capitol Hill-area grocery stores has become wacky enough that shoppers may not have noticed that a cyberattack targeting massive distributor United Natural Foods is causing bare spots on shelves and inventory problems at local stores. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill QFC redevelopment plan gets ‘Director’s Decision’ approval

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(Image: Daily Journal of Commerce)

The Seattle Department of Construction & Inspections has issued its Director’s Decision approving the plans for a six-story development to rise on the block currently home to the old 15th Ave E QFC.

Just over a week remains for any possible appeals to be filed against the decision.

The process milestone marks nearly two years of meetings and debate about the development including the East Design Review Board’s approval last fall of a requested zoning departure to allow the building an extra story in exchange for a layout that will preserve a prized European hornbeam tree along E Republican while also transitioning the project to better mesh with the adjacent lower structures to the north.

Any appeals must be filed with the Hearing Examiner by May 29th. Continue reading →

Next for Capitol Hill and Central District grocery shoppers: basket bans and receipt checks

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Thanks to a CHS reader for the picture

The big chain groceries of Capitol Hill and the Central District say they are taking new measures to create a safer environment for shoppers but the latest changes are also making trips to the stores here an even bigger pain in the ass.

Recent new indignities around Central Seattle include attempts to ban backpacks from stores and the elimination at shopping baskets in at least one Safeway.

The carts will stay, for now, an employee said, because of the wheel-locks that prevent shoplifters from taking off with a full load of goods beyond the grocery’s property. Apparently the baskets were too convenient for thieves.

This week, shoppers at Capitol Hill’s two QFC markets will notice new efforts that require customers to show a receipt to security before exiting the stores.

It’s an increasingly common practice for large retail chains but also the latest in an ongoing wave of alienating changes to shopping for groceries around Capitol Hill. Continue reading →

King of the Hill: Back on the job and fully stocked with love for E Olive Way

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(Image: CHS)

 
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(Image: Google)

By Domenic Strazzabosco

A year and a half after undergoing emergency brain surgery, Aklilu “Abe” Abraham — the owner of King of the Hill Market on E Olive Way — is back on the job and endlessly thankful for the neighborhood’s emotional and financial support throughout his surgery and recovery.

In many ways, it feels like he can’t show his appreciation to the people and businesses around him enough.

“I’m really thankful to be around the Hill. And I didn’t know until I was sick,” Abraham, who is often referred to as “The King,” said.

In September 2023, Abraham became ill and was rushed to the hospital, where a CAT scan revealed that he had bleeding in his skull that was putting pressure on his brain. A week after he had surgery, a fundraiser was launched to raise money to help pay for the excessive medical bills he was set to accrue. It was largely supported by repeat customers, neighbors, and former residents of Capitol Hill. Over $30,000 was raised.

Aside from donations, the comments on the fundraiser revealed just how beloved The King was to the neighborhood’s residents. They go something like this: “The neighborhood isn’t the same without you;” “Abe is the true king of the hill. He always makes everyone’s day;” and “Abe is such an important part of our community. Sending our best to him and to his family.”

Looking back, he describes the store, customers and neighborhood like a piece of gold he didn’t realize he had. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill grocery stores have been doing it for years — Now, the city is looking at one Seattle Safeway to see if closing off second entrance is unsafe

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The 15th/John Safeway (Image: Google Maps)

The companies behind Capitol Hill’s grocery stores will be watching as the city considers a complaint against a Seattle Safeway over the practice of closing off second entrances as the big chains try to deter shoplifters and thieves.

A “Notice of Violation” over city code was issued first in January to the 8340 15th Ave NW Safeway over a complaint about the grocery’s shutdown of one of its two entrances. Continue reading →

As $25B Albertsons and Kroger merger fizzles, Capitol Hill still has two QFCs and two Safeways

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Inside the Broadway Market QFC

A day after legal rulings blocked the proposed $25 billion agreement, the planned merger that would combine the Safeway and QFC grocery families is off leaving behind scraps of Capitol Hill paperwork and plenty of uncertainty about the future of the neighborhood’s grocery shopping needs.

Tuesday’s legal decisions included a crippling injunction issued by a federal judge following a three-week hearing in Portland over the proposed merger combining the Albertsons and Kroger companies. Albertsons says it is now backing out of the agreement and suing Kroger over its failure to secure regulatory approval for the massive merger the companies have said was necessary to address spiraling costs and competition from Walmart and Amazon.

On Capitol Hill, the multibillion dollar deal was already in motion with early maneuverings. This summer, CHS reported as a company formed by C&S Wholesale Grocers applied to assume the liquor license for the QFC grocery store in Capitol Hill’s Harvard Market shopping center. Both Capitol Hill QFC grocery stores appeared on the roster of “Planned Divestiture Store, Distribution Center, and Plant Locations” as industry giants Kroger and Albertsons promised to shed hundreds of locations as they worked toward the merger.

A $1.9 billion sale of locations would have included 579 stores across the country including 124 in Washington to be acquired by C&S, owner of the Piggly Wiggly brand that was once a staple on Capitol Hill and across the city. Continue reading →

After five years of paperwork, ‘Master Use Permit’ issued for five-story Capitol Hill Safeway redevelopment

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(Image: Weber Thompson)

The development project to create a new Safeway grocery store and mixed-use apartment complex at the corner of 15th and John has overcome its final regulatory hurdle.

The City of Seattle issued a Master Use Permit for the long-planned project on Halloween day, records show.

The issuance is the final major step in the city’s development process for a project from developer Greystar and the Weber Thompson development team to create 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 on the Safeway property at 15th and John.

The development has been in the works for years. CHS first broke the news on the plans in 2019. Plans had called for a start of construction in 2024 and a possible 2026 opening of the project. Continue reading →