EVERETT — Shoppers going to the new Safeway store in southeast Everett’s Silver Firs neighborhood for milk, eggs and a few other items may find themselves leaving the supermarket with a few extras.
Like fresh-ground peanut butter, hearth-baked artisan bread and a snack from Jamba Juice.
This afternoon, Safeway opens the new store, which features many of the grocery chain’s newest elements. Those include a wider variety of ready-to-eat meal items and products or services formerly found only in more specialized or upscale markets.
“We consider this an elite store,” said Dave Richard, district manager for Safeway. He watched Wednesday as employees and contractors rushed through the 58,000-square-foot store to get everything shipshape for today’s public preview event.
Manager Mike Eagle, who lives minutes away from his new store, calls it “a Cadillac.”
“We’ve got the best of the best,” he said.
For example, his store and the recently revamped Lake Stevens Safeway are the only ones in the region with the full-service nut bar, which features four dozen varieties of nuts. Some can be served warm, and others can be made into butter at the bar. A Pralinator at the bar creates tasty frosted nuts as well, sending a sweet scent wafting through the store.
Across the store, near a full-service deli that serves fresh sushi and other Asian specialties along with more traditional fare, customers can create salads by the pound at a fully stocked salad bar. That’s another first among the state’s Safeway locations.
Safeway has long been a strong brand among the Puget Sound region’s supermarkets, but it would have been a stretch to consider its traditional stores upscale or gourmet in decor and features.
That’s changing, however, as the California-based chain of more than 1,700 locations is giving its stores “lifestyle” makeovers. The Silver Firs store is the 1,000th in the chain to open with the new look. To mark that milestone, the store will offer special giveaways, discounts and contests through Sunday.
In addition to all the bells and whistles offered in the regular grocery departments, the store has a pharmacy, in-store Starbucks, Jamba Juice outlet and Peoples Bank branch. The store also is the anchor for the new shopping center in Silver Firs that includes a Safeway fuel station, Subway and other small shops. They soon will be joined by an Applebee’s restaurant.
The supermarket’s opening has been in the making for at least five years. After Safeway proposed the store, however, some neighbors vigorously objected. Finally, last year, Snohomish County officials allowed construction to commence.
A large noise-reducing wall separates the new shopping center’s south side from nearby residences. Richard said Safeway tried to respond quickly to any complaints from neighbors while construction was ongoing.
Now that the opening day is here for the store and its 140 or so employees, however, Eagle said he thinks the fast-growing area between Everett, Mill Creek and Snohomish will appreciate having a new place to shop.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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