New Seward Coop – Coming Soon

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.