New Seasons’ website, store announcements and fliers (printed with soy-based ink on recycled paper) emphasize a socially and environmentally conscious mission. It’s an approach that helps customers connect the dots between buying at a higher-end grocery store and supporting the community and the green movement, said Pam Lindloff, a Vancouver real estate broker and retail expert with NAI Norris Beggs and Simpson.
“They are a very involved corporate neighbor,” Lindloff said. “That’s how you get to people’s hearts. It is a way to get away from people being entirely price focused.”
In addition to supporting local suppliers, New Seasons’ Vancouver store offers:
• A community room to host public meetings and health-related classes.
• Charitable programs that donate food and money to local nonprofits.
• Programs for recycling trash and composting food waste.
• A store design that uses less energy and collects rainwater.
• Discount days for senior citizens and military families.
The Vancouver store is located in the newly renovated Fisher’s Landing Marketplace, a retail complex owned by Tualatin, Ore.-based Gramor Development and Steve Oliva, owner of Vancouver-based Hi School Pharmacy.
Grand opening events will include a preview tour for neighborhood guests from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday, and a ribbon cutting at 10 a.m. Nov. 9.