EVERETT — Thrifty shoppers could get another place to buy discount cereal, snacks and soups at a second Grocery Outlet later this year.
Banners proclaiming “FUTURE HOME!” hang at the storefront of 5209 Evergreen Way. Building permit applications for a Grocery Outlet Bargain Market were submitted in mid-April. The company touts up to 40 percent to 70 percent off typical prices of brand-name groceries and produce, as well as a guarantee to price the store’s products “at or below the lowest price in town.”
The new store will take over the space formerly leased by Party @ Display & Costume, which closed at the end of November after 25 years in business.
One Grocery Outlet already operates in town at 710 SE Everett Mall Way. There are others spread across the county in Arlington, Bothell, Lynnwood, Marysville and Monroe. Customer requests prompted the company to set up shop elsewhere in Everett.
“It’s a strong neighborhood location where we have received a lot of email over the years asking us to put a location in that part of Everett, so it would be more convenient to that neighborhood,” said Marc Drasin, Grocery Outlet vice president of real estate.
At 18,000 square feet, it’s larger than the 14,000-square-foot south Everett store. More space means more goods to offer for customers, Drasin said, but hard liquor will not be among the choices.
“We do not normally sell hard liquor in our stores,” he said.
“It’s more of a matter of what the customers want. They have so many choices elsewhere for that. And if we can’t offer a screaming deal, we won’t offer it in the store.”
The California-based company has more than 300 locations in California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Pennsylvania and Washington. All of those account for $2 billion in annual sales, Drasin said. There are more than 50 stores in Washington. Locations in Bridle Trails, Pasco, Omak and Woodland have signed leases, a part of the steady growth of 30 store openings across the country each year for Grocery Outlet.
“And we’re looking for others,” Drasin said.
It is also looking for owner-operators for the Everett location. The company leases its stores and then acts as a distributor. Drasin said most Grocery Outlet market owners are couples local to their stores and their communities.
Once selected by the company, the new location’s owner-operators are responsible for hiring between 40 and 50 full-time and part-time employees.
Drasin said the Grocery Outlet store is set to open in the last quarter of 2018. The city planning permit was approved April 20 because the space is not changing its designated use or undergoing any major exterior change. Building, fire and public works permit applications were under review for the location.
One store’s plans to open follow another’s recent shuttering. An Albertsons less than a mile south on Evergreen Way closed earlier in April.
The building, part of the Everett Plaza shopping center, is owned by Asia First Inc. The Seattle property management company bought the property in 2002 for $7.95 million.
Ben Watanabe: bwatanabe@heraldnet.com; 425-339-3037. Twitter: @benwatanabe.
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