The new Crown Hill Grocery Outlet (8700 15th Ave NW) is officially open.
Today is the discount grocery store’s soft opening, two days before the grand opening celebration. As we reported earlier, the grand opening will be held this coming Saturday, May 8th. The first 700 customers on Saturday will get a free eco-friendly Grocery Outlet bags. There will be a local charity fundraiser for the Ballard Food Bank and customers will have the chance to win more than $3,300 in prizes.
Crown Hill Grocery Outlet now open
I hope it is better than the one on Aurora. I’ll be able to walk to this one instead of doing the 2-bus hop with the lovely folk at the bus-stop at 85th & Aurora and bus stop across from K-mart on the way home. The entrance is definitely closer to the sidewalk.
OMG, that store is gorgeous! It is much, much, MUCH better than the N. Seattle store on 130th. There were lots of employees who asked if I needed help finding anything, which never happens at 130th. And, they didn’t have to search for an employee who spoke English, which usually isn’t a big deal, but I hate to see that “deer in the headlights” look, right before they start calling for a coworker in Spanish. Which is not my fault, but I do feel bad for them.
This store even had fresh chickpeas (garbanzo beans). All of the produce looked gorgeous, which is another wonderful change from 130th. They even had toilet seats, for less than $10!
i thought i read something about the independent owners of this grocery outlet and if that’s the case, that might explain how a store is cared for. if it’s a franchise that is.
Did this site use to be a QFC? I always thought the store at 87th & 15th was a bit redundant after QFC bought Art’s. Though QFC has 3 (busy) stores on Capitol Hill all within a few blocks of each other.
Kim, I believe you are right that Grocery Outlet operates as a franchise with each store being individually owned. There seems to be a huge difference between the various locations in how they are maintained and the level of service provided by the staff. Of course the same thing could be said for Safeway or Albertson’s which are all corporate owned.
Chris, it was the Value Village, which moved into old QFC a few months ago. Kind of like a game of musical chairs. I’ll be stopping in tomorrow.
Good to see a useful store opening up once in a while. I wish them the best of luck.
Way to miss the boat, PCC!
The name gives one the impression of stale bread and left overs.