STANWOOD — Inside the gleaming, wood-accented entrance to the new QFC supermarket on Highway 532, construction workers installed the final details Tuesday as store employees finished stocking the shelves.
"It doesn’t look like it, but we’ll be ready," said Steve Bader, manager of the new store, as he paused to watch the hubbub around him.
Less than five months after earthmoving equipment began clearing the site, the new 50,000-square-foot market at 27008 92nd Ave. NW opens at 7 a.m. today.
The Stanwood store is the northernmost location for QFC. The chain, owned by Cincinnati-based Kroger Co., has said it has plans to expand further in Snohomish County.
"We’re a real good fit for the kind of market and customers that are up there," Jeff Burt, group vice president for sales and marketing, said from the QFC’s headquarters in Bellevue.
The new store carries QFC’s "fresh fare" theme, which includes an expanded produce department with special sections for organically grown and gourmet items.
Other features include a deli and sushi counter, a Seattle’s Best Coffee outlet with a fireplace and wireless Internet access, and store experts in cheese and wine, Burt said. The pharmacy includes a drive-up window on the building’s north side.
In addition to the large windows and wood architectural accents outside, the interior of the 18-aisle store includes decorative touches in both wood and metal. Even the normally drab concrete floors look upscale, stained and then polished for a marblelike appearance.
Steve Meissner, district manager for QFC, said the look is consistent with that in the company’s other recently built stores. Some of the same features will eventually be found in the QFC store near downtown Everett, which is undergoing an expansion and total renovation.
QFC’s new Stanwood store also has a fuel station, which opened Monday. It’s only one of three service stations operated by QFC, with the others in Lynnwood and Sequim, Meissner said.
In addition to hiring local residents for the Stanwood staff, which numbers between 100 and 200, some employees from other QFC stores transferred to work closer to home.
Bader, who lives in Snohomish, said he’s happy to be steering the new store after years as manager of the downtown Everett QFC.
"It’s a huge opportunity — a brand-new store, completely new market," he said.
Haggen Food &Pharmacy, which recently remodeled, opened in the mid-1990s on the east side of Stanwood, but the new QFC is on the west side, closer to Stanwood’s downtown. That’s also home to Twin City Market &Deli and Thrifty Foods, both longtime grocery stores here.
Cameron Powers, co-owner of the 10,000-square-foot Twin City Market, said he’s counting on keeping customers who prefer a smaller, more easily navigated store. He may also emphasize such things as not having to hassle with the loyalty cards required for discounts at QFC or Haggen.
"If we can survive through this, I think we’ll be OK," Powers said. But he added he’s not wishing for anymore competition after QFC opens.
The supermarket is the anchor tenant for the new Stanwood Towne Center development. Retail spaces in the first two buildings will be ready early in the new year, said developer Marc Wilson, who owns the shopping center with a group of business partners.
Ultimately, the shopping center will have about 40,000 square feet of retail space surrounding the QFC store. So far, Wilson hasn’t announced any other tenants.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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