For a while, it looked like Sept. 14 was shaping up to be one incredibly busy and historic day in Mill Creek’s 21 years as a city.
It is the day local voters will go to the polls for the primary election – the first under the state’s new primary system – and the Mill Creek Library annexation question is on that ballot. The City Council will meet that night, and the Main Street connector project into Town Center’s south end is also set to open to traffic on that date. And this list doesn’t include any athletic contests involving Jackson High School teams.
As if that isn’t enough, it was supposed to be the day the Central Market location in Mill Creek Town Center was slated to open – but not any more.
Instead, construction delays and minor design changes have pushed the store’s opening date back two weeks to Sept. 29. Doors will open at 9 a.m.
“We were being pretty optimistic,” Susan Allen, special projects director for Town &Country Markets, Inc., said about the Sept. 14 opening date. “It took a little longer than we thought, but everything’s still on track.”
Central Market, along with University Book Store, are expected to be the cornerstones of the Town Center development. Central Market is expected to cater not only to local shoppers, but become a regional grocery destination as well.
“From the first day we visited the site we felt it was a good fit,” Allen said. “It just felt right.”
Mill Creek Central Market will be a 56,000 square-foot store located between Main Street and the Bothell-Everett Highway at the south end of Town Center opposite the Mill Creek Library. University Book Store’s Mill Creek location will be a few hundred feet north of Central Market.
Central Market will carry a diverse selection of products, including live shellfish tanks, naturally-raised meats, organic produce, and a large selection of organic and natural foods throughout the store.
Another feature will be a deli with self-service antipasto, soup, salad and entree bars, and an Asian food shop that includes sushi made on-site daily. The store will also feature regular cooking demonstrations and wine stewards.
The store director for Mill Creek will be Jim Huffman, who currently holds the same position at the Shoreline Central Market location. He will be joined in Mill Creek by Jeff Swanson, who will become the store merchandiser. Swanson is currently store director at the company’s Greenwood Market in Seattle.
Currently, the company is interviewing and hiring personnel for various positions, however, Allen said all management positions at the Mill Creek store have been filled from within the company. The store is expected to employ 150 people.
Town &Country Markets, which will oversee Mill Creek Central Market, currently operates five grocery stores in the Puget Sound region. In addition to Central Market locations in Shoreline and Poulsbo, the local family-run corporation operates the Ballard Market and Greenwood Market in Seattle, and the Town &Country Market on Bainbridge Island.
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