First Look: PCC Opens First Store with New Name and ‘Market Hall’ Design

MG2 helps make PCC Community Market's design vision a reality with Burien, WA grand opening.

PCC Community Markets opens its new Burien store at Five Corners Shopping Center Wednesday.

The store is PCC’s first location south of Seattle, the first store to have the co-op’s new name and signage, the first store to operate on 100 percent renewable energy, and the first store with a new design centered around the idea of a market hall or farmers market, separated into different shops.

PCC said it started working with Graham Baba Architects in 2015 to design a store concept that would reflect the co-op’s dedication to local vendors with food as a more visible focal point.

This is the final piece of the co-op’s work to better tell its story and draw more attention to its partnerships with local vendors, suppliers, farmers and ranchers. The campaign started last year when PCC changed its name and announced a new marketing effort.

“We knew that the first build-out would be critical to our team’s success,” said Brian Jonas, associate principal at Graham Baba. “While we had prototyped a few elements in existing stores, Burien is providing our first real world proof of concept.”

The centralized produce section is the first thing shoppers see. Food preparation runs along the north wall, which includes made-from-scratch deli products, a bakery, pizzeria and taqueria.

The east wall has the full-service seafood and meat shops. The cheese shop is adjacent to the wine, beer and spirit department.PCC started offering spirits late last year.

The grocer wanted to better reflect its values of openness and transparency in the new store design, which is why the kitchen and produce prep areas are more visible to customers. Lowered counters and refrigerated cases facilitate more engagement between shoppers and staff.

PCC has used Forest Stewardship Council-certified materials and repurposed West Seattle materials in an effort to mimic the co-op’s approach to sourcing authentic food. Natural lighting also allows the food to be the primary focal point and color in the store, the co-op said.

Other features in the Burien store include the new grab-and-go PCC meal kits, a PCC Yogurt Bar featuring the co-op’s private label yogurt and PCC’s Little Free Cookbook Library, where shoppers can donate or borrow cookbooks.

MG2 architects implemented the new design concepts into the Burien store. The developer was Powell Development Co., while the general contractor was Woodman Construction.