PCC Community Markets said Tuesday that it plans to open its first small-format store later this year in downtown Seattle as the grocery co-operative moves ahead with a plan announced last year.
The store, which is set to debut by mid-July at the intersection of Fourth Avenue and Union Street, will occupy about 6,000 square feet and carry an assortment of fresh, hot and prepared foods, as well as a limited selection of grocery and panty staples. Known as PCC Corner Market, the store will sit on part of the same site as the co-op’s original downtown Seattle location, which the co-op closed in January 2024 because it was unprofitable. PCC announced in September that it intended to bring a small-format location to the space.
The new PCC store will be open weekdays and focus on offerings aimed at the office workers and urban residents who will constitute its core customer base.
“With PCC Corner Market, our mission is to offer the same amazing food that PCC is known for in a refreshing new format that is readily accessible and easy to navigate,” Krish Srinivasan, PCC’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “We are excited about returning to the city center, and to once again be serving the many residents and workers there who were regulars at our previous store.”
PCC said it developed the concept for the small-format location using lessons it learned from its experience running the previous full-service store, which opened in January 2022 and spanned 20,000 square feet. The co-op found that shoppers who visited that location showed a preference for prepared foods and healthy snacks, adding that the new store will feature fresh sushi and deli items in addition to a range of snacks, ice cream, beer and wine, allowing it to “elevate breakfast and lunch and offer convenient grab-and-go items for after-work social events.”
Srinivasan said last year that PCC intends to use the rest of the site where the small-format store will be located for its central office, which the grocer said would save money and bring its corporate operations to “a space that more closely aligns with our values as a co-op.”
