Central Co-op grocery has an opening date for its Tacoma store

TACOMA, Wash. — Another grocery store will soon be back on the scene in Tacoma.

Central Co-op announced Wednesday that its Tacoma location, 4502 N. Pearl St., will open June 15.

Tacoma has not had a co-op grocery presence since Central Co-op left its Sixth Avenue site in 2016.

After choosing the Pearl Street site, construction delays pushed the opening to this year.

The food co-op plans special events throughout its first week, including a parking lot celebration on opening day and discounts through the week, not only in Tacoma but at its Seattle store, too.

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“Our new Tacoma store was built with a focus on community, and we’re so excited to open the doors to everyone,” said Central Co-op CEO Catherine Willis Cleveland in a statement. “As part of our commitment to strengthening the Washington economy, our buyers work for the Tacoma store specifically and have stocked our shelves with many local favorites.

“We believe that growing these local relationships ensure that exciting and relevant products are available to our shoppers and help us support a robust economy of small businesses.”

Local producers to be featured in the Tacoma store include Wild Hare Organic Farm, Rainbow Cloud Kombucha, Ice Cream Social and more.

According to its news release, the Tacoma store will emphasize fresh foods with a large produce department that includes organic and spray-free produce and offerings from area farms.

The deli will offer items made in-house and feature a taqueria, grab-and-go meals and a hot bar.

The new store also will have a fresh meat and seafood department, along with a complete bulk food department with grains, spices, coffee, oils, honey and fresh-ground nut butters.

The store also will have an extensive health and wellness section, deli seating and a wrap-around porch.

“One of the things that has been especially exciting for our team has been hearing personal stories from people in the neighborhood about how much having a grocery store on this corner again will mean to them,” said Tacoma store director Victor Fontaine in its release.

Fontaine also worked at the Sixth Avenue store before its closure.

“I always dreamed of a store where we could have the resources to have an even bigger impact in our community,” Fontaine said.

For more store updates or to apply for work, go to www.centralcoop.coop/tacoma-store.php

The News Tribune