PCC returns to downtown Seattle — with a smaller footprint

PCC Community Markets is back in downtown Seattle.
The 72 year-old co-op returns this week after closing in 2024 — but with a smaller footprint. When PCC Corner Market opens this week, it will focus more on prepared foods for downtown workers and residents.
CEO Krish Srinivasan led a group of community leaders on a tour of the renovated space Monday, the day before reopening.
“If you did visit the store in its previous incarnation," Srinivasan said, "that prior deli space is what we’ve built the corner market space around."
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Srinivasan says the need for fresh food in downtown hasn’t changed, but the co-op had to make adjustments to keep it viable.
“The data that we have from the original store was that the deli and fresh food section was doing great," he said.
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The co-op will still stock some kitchen staples like milk and eggs.
The reopened store will also provide an opportunity to try new things that could inform future decisions in other stores, Srinivasan said.
For example, the downtown store will use electronic shelf tags for the first time. The tags provide electronic pricing and allows real time price adjustments.
“That helps us do a lot of things more flexibly, more efficiently," Srinivasan said.

PCC’s return comes at a time when foot traffic in the greater downtown area is slowly climbing. The month of June saw around 152,000 workers, according to the Downtown Seattle Association. That's a 5% increase from June 2024.
Alex Hudson heads Commute Seattle, an organization that helps downtown workers get around without driving alone. She says having this kind of store could help workers downtown.
“A huge reason they drive alone is because they need to get things between their workday and their home day," Hudson said.
For PCC, the reopened store is a first move toward embedding itself in the city center. Later this year, it will relocate its office there, next to the store.
Srinivasan says the office will preserve many of the remnants of the old space.
“My desk is going to be in the meat department. I’m going to have white tile around me," Srinivasan said, chuckling. “Our intent was to keep the spirit of what this used to be. Let’s never forget that we are a grocer co-op.”