‘The right price’ — How Central Co-op did NOT open above Capitol Hill Station

(Image: Central Co-op)

By Matt Dowell

A decade ago, the timeline for Central Co-op — and maybe Capitol Hill’s grocery store economy — split.

In 2016, Central Co-op was vocal about its push to be the anchor grocery store in development above Capitol Hill Station. But as it looked to the future and the changes in the grocery business, Central dropped its labor-backed expansion bid citing cost concerns.

Ten years later, Central Co-op is on the upswing and doing fine on E Madison according to new general manager and CEO Sue Spang.

Spang stepped into the role last August following a decade that brought many challenges to the business and to grocery stores in general. But a resilient staff and some surprising grocery economics quirks have kept the days bright at the 16th and E Madison store.

“A lot of us have been here a long time,” said Spang of the Co-op staff. “Coming out the other side in a positive way is great.”

Spang is one of those enduring employees. She worked as a graphic designer on the 2016 campaign for the Capitol Hill Station. At the time, multiple grocers lobbied the developer of the yet-to-be-built mixed-use project for the prominent spot above the subway station. Central had been a neighborhood staple since 1978, but sought to expand.

“It was a high period for the Co-op,” said Spang. “We’d merged with the Tacoma Food Co-op the year before, we had a strong sales position. Competition on the Hill was different – this was before Whole Foods and PCC wasn’t over here yet.”

She spoke of an Obama-era optimism and a sense that “anything was possible”. The people around the Co-op believed in the alternative business model and felt that it might have momentum to go more mainstream.

But the Co-op eventually backed off its bid to expand, having encountered other obstacles and a leadership change. The site ultimately went to a location of H-Mart’s “urban convenience” concept, M2M.

(Image: Central Co-op)

Spang feels that there is less optimism in the air these days. More so, there is economic uncertainty that can affect how Seattleites shop.

“There are those folks who are like, ‘I really do want to shop and support local businesses, to clearly trace the source of my food, and to know that the people at this business are being paid well and their benefits are taking care of them.’”

“That subset of shoppers is always going to be there for us.”

“The public sentiment does sort of oscillate but it’s driven by economic uncertainty. I would hope that most people have those values if all other things are equal. But in moments of economic uncertainty you see different patterns, lower basket sizes, residual effects of people being really deliberate about the money piece.”

But sales are up at the Co-op. Spang says this is in part because the rising tide of wages and prices has forced other stores to come up to the Co-op’s cost levels.

“We’ve always priced things fairly consistently and didn’t see huge huge price jumps in the way conventional groceries did [during post-pandemic inflation] because we were always kind of charging the right price.”

“An interesting outcome of prices going up generally is that there haven’t been these huge price discrepancies with Kroger. I’ve heard things like ‘Your apples are actually cheaper than theirs.’”

Effects of the minimum wage increase have been blunted at Central for similar reasons.

“We’ve been union forever and have always paid pretty well above minimum wage. We didn’t have to adjust our wages when minimum wages went up.”

Spang said that the Co-op’s average wage is a little over $27, anybody who works 28 hours per week gets health benefits, and the vast majority of employees are unionized.

“The point of co-ops is not necessarily to hold on to money. It goes back into the community.”

The ability to absorb these cost shifts may have gotten the Co-op through a challenging decade when pandemic woes were compounded by the multi-year RapidRide G line construction that tore up the street.

Having weathered those storms, the business now exists in a post-Whole Foods world on Madison, which is to Spang and co.’s benefit. Other chain grocery stores in the neighborhood have struggled, too. On E Pike, Amazon Fresh closed. QFC and Safeway locations continue to combat theft with increasingly strict security.

Spang, now eight months into her tenure, likes what she sees ahead for Central. She anticipates the business will invest in more staff and alternative layouts in their small triangular space on 16th, all toward offering better service and more products to shoppers.

“We are stoked on where we’re at with the Co-op.”

“It feels really great with the excellent staff we have and the support we’ve had from the community to be in a place where people understand what we’re trying to do here.”

Central Co-op is located at 1600 E Madison. Learn more at centralcoop.coop.

A Central Co-op sign designed by Spang (Image: Sue Spang)

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