Kress IGA Supermarket

What makes a neighborhood a good place to live? According to Tyler Myers of the Myers Group, it has to do with services. "Every neighborhood needs basic services—a grocery, hardware store, dry cleaner. These all make a community." And that’s his intent for the full-service supermarket going into the Kress building at 3^rd and Pike in Seattle.

Photo: Tyler Myers in the Kress Building hallway in front of Kress Department store photographs

"Being part of and supporting a community is the strategy in all of our businesses," he explains. "We don’t look for a 2-5 year lease; we look for a 40-60 year lease. This downtown neighborhood will see lots of change over the next few years and we want to be part of it."

The Myers Group, owners and operators of the new store, is a small family business, started when Tyler’s father purchased a Whidbey Island grocery store in 1978. It has become more diversified over the years, but the focus is still primarily on groceries, gas station convenience stores and hardware stores.

Tyler has been looking to put a grocery or hardware store downtown for five years. "It’s difficult to find the kind of square footage needed with reasonable rents. Many landlords want a ‘demo clause’ meaning they give you a long lease, but if they decide to demolish the building, they can give you 60 days notice," explains Tyler. Understandable from a building owner’s perspective, but tough on the lessee.

He heard about brothers Don and Paul Etsekson who own the Kress building and were looking for a tenant for the basement. Part of Seattle’s history, the Kress Department Store first went head-to-head with Woolworth’s across the street. At one time it was the Nordstrom headquarters with the basement housing a sampling of what they sold. Most recently, Callison used it to store architectural drawings.

Within 24 hours of meeting Don and Paul, the three had the basic terms of a lease worked out. Too large for a hardware store, the space was just right for a grocery. "These are terrific guys," says Tyler. "They have such pride of ownership in the building and neighborhood. They could probably have found something else that might have made more money. Grocery stores have thin margins. But they want to better the neighborhood and feel this is the right thing to do."

Two major differences set this store apart: no parking and a basement location. "Our market is the four blocks around the store," says Tyler. "Potential customers are downtown dwellers, office workers and visitors/passers-by." Parking shouldn’t be an issue for most of those customers. To alleviate any potential problem, they will institute a delivery service for a small area—maybe Pioneer Square to lower Queen Anne and Elliott Bay to lower Capitol Hill. Delivery service will start sometime after the store opens, perhaps 30-60 days out. People can go online, place their order and have it delivered to their home or office or pick it up themselves.

Photo above: construction site showing main entrance from sidewalk level; escalators will bring customers down into store

The store won’t have a basement feel. Escalators will take people down into the 17,000 square foot space. Two big screen TVs seen from the sidewalk will advertise what can be found inside. They’ll see brightly colored produce and flowers as they look into the space. "We’re hoping to partner with some of the Pike Place Market flower vendors," explains Tyler. "They have the best flowers; we don’t want to compete with them."

Every attempt has been made to retain the original building’s feel and use of existing materials. Although pillars are larger than what are found in average grocery stores, they have been left in place along with the original molding. The original floor, laid in 1905 and including brass dividers, is being refurbished. "Lighting will be better than what you find in traditional grocery stores," states Tyler.

Photo above: original pillar from Kress Building

The name, Kress IGA Supermarket tells the story. Kress is part of Seattle, IGA has the private label products they’ll offer and it will be a supermarket with a full array of products. Because it serves a downtown population, product size will match the "buy only what you can carry" concept. "You won’t find a 24-roll package of toilet paper," says Tyler. "Maybe 12. You will find baby food, pet food, laundry detergent, dairy, beverages and frozen food."

Considering their demographic, 30% of floor space will be dedicated to food service. Customers will find fresh sushi, Chinese food and deli items. All the details haven’t been worked out, but there will be a taqueria where items will be made to order; a sandwich table where customers create their perfect sandwich; deli meats and cheeses sliced to order; a specialty meats department and a self-serve meat counter for prepackaged ground beef, chicken, etc. There will be refrigerated and non-refrigerated bakery items, a salad bar, hot food bar (mac ‘n cheese, lasagna) and olive bar. A thoughtful touch is the sink where people can wash produce they’ve purchased so it’s ready to eat.

Some online chat has been about how green the store will be. "I want people to understand that we’re always environmentally conscious," Tyler says. "For a delivery vehicle, we’re not looking at a truck. We might use something like a Mini Cooper or, hopefully, an electric car if it works for our delivery area. We’re using as much of the existing building as we can without tearing down and recreating. Because we’ll only have one dumpster, we have to be mindful of what comes in and goes out packaging-wise. We’ll be composting waste and that’s also helpful economically to us—we won’t pay so much for garbage hauling."

Above: artist rendering of new store--large murals won't be present

Bottom line, they’re not building a niche/specialty store that is all green—it’s an everyday store with Tide and Chlorox next to natural products on the shelves. What they are building is a business that will serve the neighborhood and that consistently treats customers and employees with respect. As Tyler says, "What a customer sees, feels and smells is what counts. We have to provide value." We’re looking forward to meeting the new kid in the neighborhood.

Connie Adams/May 2008

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