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This Washington Co-op is Getting Healthier and Boozier

The co-op market makes a move to stay relevant in the changing way Seattle gets its groceries.

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Big news, kale fans: everyone’s favorite local, organic grocer is announcing today that it’s changing its name from PCC Natural Markets to PCC Community Markets, putting an emphasis on the community aspect of the community-owned co-op. Natural foods there are still, as always, a given.

The rebrand brings more than just a new logo and name—store amenities are changing, too, with an emphasis on making healthy meals speedier. Ready-to-cook meal kits will be available come November (in addition to the current grab-and-go deli and hot bar items), with recipes developed and tested by in-house chefs.

That month, too, Edmonds and Redmond locations will open a Chop Shop, where you can select items from the produce department to be diced and sliced for free while you wait. For lazy home cooks (like yours truly) who have a perpetual state of guilt about not prepping healthy meals in advance, this feature is particularly enticing. The press release also mentions a house-label yogurt partnership with Pure Éire Dairy and a new spirits section of the store.


Image provided by PCC Community Markets.

With the popularity of meal delivery kits like HelloFresh and Blue Apron—plus Amazon’s arrival of competing takeout kits—PCC is making a smart move by giving consumers what they want in this area. As it is, online grocery sales are surging (particularly in metropolitan areas like Seattle), and our little community markets are scrambling to keep up.

Though changes will be rolling out in October and November, PCC is celebrating its new identity this weekend, with a community fair at each store from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday, September 16. Stop by for live music, food samples, cooking demos and the unveiling of the Little Free Cookbook Libraries at Bothell, Greenlake Aurora and View Ridge stores. 

Opening Night: Is Ethan Stowell’s Cut Club Happy Hour Going to Solve the Affordability Crisis?

Opening Night: Is Ethan Stowell’s Cut Club Happy Hour Going to Solve the Affordability Crisis?

At Cut Club, the longtime Seattle restaurateur is going old-school, with steaks made for sharing, no service charges, and a happy hour where $12 still buys dinner. 

Cut Club, the new steakhouse inside downtown’s Hotel Max, feels like a restaurant from the not-too-distant past. The menu leans comfortable rather than ambitious or world-spanning. It serves a typical lineup of steak cuts, some traditional sides like oysters, prawn cocktail, and wedge salad, and some cocktails that are between $15 and $20. There’s a…

Outside the Box: Gourmondo Founder Launches Olivina

Outside the Box: Gourmondo Founder Launches Olivina

Alissa Leinonen’s new venture brings her seasonal, Northwest approach to weddings, milestone celebrations, and elevated events.

After 30 years, Alissa Leinonen—founder of renowned catering and box-lunch company, Gourmondo—has launched a new venture. Called Olivina, the new luxury catering and events company focuses on highly personalized, elevated experiences ranging from weddings or other milestone celebrations to corporate gatherings. What started with $4,000 from a refinanced car (and a tiny café in Pike…

7 Washington Fall Festivals Worth the Drive

7 Washington Fall Festivals Worth the Drive

Autumn is back. Celebrate with fresh-hop beer, apple harvests, returning salmon, cranberries, and more. 

Explore 7 fun Washington fall festivals worth the drive, from Leavenworth's Autumn Leaf Festival and Issaquah Salmon Days to CrabFest and Fresh Hop Ale.

Restaurant Roundup: Brunch With a Side of History, Cardamom Lattes, and Chiew Chiew

Restaurant Roundup: Brunch With a Side of History, Cardamom Lattes, and Chiew Chiew

Here’s what was served up recently in the Emerald City.

Hope you’re hungry for a history lesson. Oliver’s, the cocktail lounge inside downtown’s Mayflower Park Hotel, was a Bartell Drugs store during Prohibition before becoming the city’s first hotel bar in the late 1940s—the Carousel Room, named for the carousel horses hung from the ceiling. When Washington repealed the rule forbidding the service of hard…