QFC to change shopping in Stanwood

STANWOOD — Today's opening of a QFC store here will mark the supermarket chain's farthest foray north. It will also give residents of this city of 4,000 three supermarkets from which to choose.

How QFC's arrival will change the area's shopping landscape remains to be seen, but company officials say the new supermarket will be something different.

"It's just really a flagship store for us," said Jeff Burt, the group vice president of sales and marketing for QFC, which is headquartered in Bellevue. "It's going to have all the normal grocery items. It's just taking it to next level."

The 52,000-square-foot store, which uses the name QFC Fresh Fare to indicate it's a little different from the chain's other stores, is the 12th QFC in Snohomish County and the 86th store in the chain.

The grocery business is widely known for its competitive nature, and Burt declined to discuss many specifics of the new store, such as cost or even marketing studies that led QFC to decide to make the investment in Stanwood. He noted it is employing about 200 people, however, making a substantial contribution to the local economy.

What QFC shoppers will find is an expensive-looking lodge-style entry with a soaring ceiling and laminated beams. The doors lead directly into a floral area.

Inside the store is a Seattle's Best Coffee cafe with comfortable chairs, cozy tables and a fireplace.

The store also features a gourmet-cheese shop, complete with a cheese steward, Maria Franzese, who was being helped during the opening by Connie Orona, normally a cheese steward in Seattle.

Orona noted that for someone who might still be grappling with choosing from hundreds of varieties of wine — the store also has a wine steward — cheese can offer an entirely new experience, with more than 40 brands of gourmet cheese on display, aside from dozens of other plastic-wrapped varieties.

The cheeses come from such places as Ireland, France, Italy and Spain. Many are more exotic than cheddar or Monterey Jack, such as Cashel Irish Blue Farmhouse Cheese from Tipperary, Ireland. Franzese recently put a package on the scales and totaled it up: 3.54 pounds would come to $67.22.

There are two other major food stores in the Stanwood area: a Thrifty Foods in downtown that's been in business since 1964 and a 60,000-square-foot Haggen Food & Pharmacy east of downtown that opened in 1995.

"Well, basically, it's a matter of our store providing a different kind of retail experience for our customers," said Sue Cole of Brown & Cole, the Bellingham owners of Thrifty Foods, which acquired the chain seven years ago.

"We've had quite a long run. For the foreseeable future, that's where we're going to be."

Becky Skaggs, a spokeswoman for Haggen, also headquartered in Bellingham, said the Stanwood store was opened after market research showed most shoppers were leaving the area for groceries and many other supplies.

"It'll be interesting to see what happens," Skaggs said.

The effects on the city also are unknown. One city study shows Stanwood might expect to see its sales-tax revenue climb to about $850,000 a year, up from $825,000, partly because of the QFC development, which includes other new retail businesses in the same complex.

Yet Landy Manuel, Stanwood's finance director, pointed out that the QFC isn't expected to produce a great sales-tax jump because food is exempt from the sales tax. He said most of the increase probably would come from yet-to-open stores in the complex at 27008 92nd Ave. N.W.

And in one comparison, Manuel noted how Burlington, Skagit County, has a population of 7,000 but — because it's become a center for outlet malls and other shopping — collects about $500,000 a month in sales-tax revenue, nearing the amount Stanwood collects in a year.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259 or pwhitely@seattletimes.com