
Carly and I had a chance to tour the new Seward Coop (we’re members) location at Franklin Ave & Riverside Ave (2823 E Franklin Ave?) during their open house on Sunday. The new location is 7 blocks to the East of their previous location and much larger, which has provided the opportunity for many great upgrades.
The new location has a larger parking lot and many more bike racks (this is just one of the sets of Seward Coop logo racks):

Throughout the store, the aisles are much wider so using carts will be easier. The coop tends to attract an packaging-reader crowd, so things do tend to get congested at the current location. In the produce section island displays are on wheels to make seasonal changes easier:

The bulk section is much larger:

Heated foods have increased from 3 to 11:

Cheese has become more conversational with the new deli display:

The deli has the largest increase in square footage (2.5X) with a juice bar, coffee (but no espresso), self and full serve pastries, hand-made sandwiches, and the cheese display:

The lounge is much larger and will offer free WiFi:

Upstairs, there is a new cooking classroom so keep an eye out for educational opportunities starting this spring:

And offices. Currently, some of the employees have their offices off-site due to space limitations:

Employees have lockers upstairs, a shower, and access to a patio off the back of the building:

A lot of green considerations have gone into the design of the building, including piping of natural light into the check-out area:

Other changes include a larger seafood selection from Coastal Seafoods and a larger selection of prepared meals.
Overall, I’d say this is one heck of a great upgrade with many well-considered design decisions based on feedback from coop members. Thanks for the great work by all those involved.

LOVE the green.
And the saved artwork in the loading dock.
Can’t wait for this place to open!
Wonderful images! I am excited for that new co-op, too! 🙂
I’ve been driving by, watching the slow but steady construction for a while now. Can’t wait to check it out!
OMG, that is one of the ugliest buildings I have EVER seen!
(But I still love what’s inside, so I suppose I’ll get over it.)
You sure can’t miss it.
Hi – so nice to see all of the pictures from the open house. Just a quick correction – the bike racks, which look amazing, are a design that we will be seeing throughout the Seward neighborhood. It compliments the Seward Co-op logo well but is actually a design created by Dero Bike Racks, a Seward-based manufacturer, to be a Seward bike rack. Anyone interested in getting one at their business can call Emily at Seward Redesign at 612-338-8729 x 105. Thanks!
Thanks! Very exciting, I am new to the neighborhood so can’t wait to go there.