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| Spirit of Halloween coming soon Photo by Steven H. Robinson |
By Diane Hettrick
There have been persistent rumors about the fate of the two local Top Foods stores - Shoreline and SR 99 in Edmonds. The Shoreline store closed some months ago as part of a corporate slimming down. Haggen's, the parent company, acquired a major investor and closed eight stores in 2013.
According to the Bellingham Herald, "Although a private investment firm bought a majority stake in Haggen in 2011, the Haggen family remains involved and company headquarters remain in Bellingham."
I was unable to get on the record confirmation, but it appears that WinCo, which runs a line of discount (bag your own) grocery stores, will lease the Edmonds store.
There are local people with such a passion for Trader Joe's that they have started a Facebook page claiming that TJs will take over the Shoreline site. There are also claims that a sign saying as much was posted on the building, which is at N 175th and Midvale, across from Shoreline City Hall.
Lien Titus, of the Secret Shoreline Facebook page, called the Trader Joe's corporate headquarters to ask about the Shoreline store. Lien reports, "I just got off the phone with the Trader Joe's Head office Customer Relations and they adamantly stated that there are NO plans to open one at THAT location nor anywhere in Shoreline at this time.. not in 2015 or anytime soon."
Shoreline Area News photographer Steven H. Robinson went looking for signs and found that a Halloween store will operate at the site, but no Trader Joe's signs.
Of course, commercial real estate transactions are usually kept private until the deal is sealed, and Shoreline does seem like a perfect market for Trader Joe's, so there's always room for optimism!
Lynnwood or Seattle are way too far to travel to a Trader Joes! We NEED one in Shoreline!
ReplyDeletePerhaps the Shoreline School District should purchase it and use it as a school for Cascade K-8. All the schools are crowded, many using rooms that aren't really classrooms to work with kids. Computer labs are taken apart and being used as classrooms. There are 30+ kids in some rooms. What will happen when the class size intiative goes through? Where will they put all these kids?
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