Puget Consumer's Cooperative
STORE PROFILE O verflowing produce stalls reminiscent of a local farmer's market serve as Seattle's Puget Consumer's Co-op (PCC) showcase department around which their young, urban professional clientele bustles to pick up groceries. At 20,000 sq. ft ,, the Fremont branch of the 25-year-old PCC Natural Markets is the most diminutive of PCC's nine stores. Together they serve a 45,000-strong membership voting with their dollars for a healthy and sustainable foods. Members pay a $60 fee that entitles them to 5 percent discounts on the 15-16th of each month and an additional 10 percent coupon in their home-delivered co-op produced newspaper, the Sound. Discounts on PCC Cooks classes and Zipcar memberships add to the perks. Toting baskets or wheeling small carts, Fremont's on-the-go customers make their way to the store via foot or bicycle, which explains in part the small average basket size. One to three items and grab-n-go traffic is due to workers streaming in from nearby companies who have set up shop in the neighborhood. When families do make their way to Fremont, kids get a healthy distraction and parents are blessed with a peaceful moment when employees off er youngsters a free piece of produce. Th e Free Fruit for Kids program encourages kids to take a sample from the wide world of produce. From apples to star fruit, PCC hopes to hook the youth of Seattle on the joys of fresh, whole food, according to Diana Crane, PCC's Director of Sustainability and a nominee for the National Organic Standards Board. PCC is also interested in the youngsters' opinions so much so that they let kids give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down on products that make the PCC grade. If a product gets a thumb's up. it earns a Kid's Pick bright orange shelf-talker, a beacon for parents of picky eaters. The Kid's Pick Vehicle is a purple and green camping van that travels between stores offering samples and obtaining vital data leading to the selection of 1,500 official Kid's Picks. The produce department leads the store in percentage of organic foodstuffs at 95 percent. Local and organic are the first cut, and after that, organic from outside the region that offers the best levels of food quality comes next, Crane explains. For example, buyers purchase out of season organics from Organics Unlimited, which supports growers of organic tropical fruits through its GROW foundation (Giving Resources and Opportunities to Workers). The remainder of the store's offerings consists of predominantly organic or natural products that must meet stringent requirements for the certified organic retailer. PCC's gatekeepers use the word `no' emphatically for: GMOs, antibiotics, preservatives, pesticides, r-BGH dairy, trans-fats, high-fructose corn syrup and animal products from cloned animals or their offspring. Crane credits PCC's popularity among the roughly 20,000 weekly customers that pass through the doors to one thing: Trust. We are the gatekeeper for anything that aff ects food safety and quality. she adds. Our standards are second to no one. Deep Blue Sea And this includes the seafood department which relies on the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch sustainable seafood guide to inform their off erings of fresh salmon, Dungeness crab and Alaskan halibut. Only fi sh and seafood from the Best Choices (green) and Good Alternatives (yellow) are off ered. Th e adjoining meat department displays wide array of responsibly raised meats the woman behind the counter suggested the Bison burgers from Country Natural Beef, Eel River organic beef, Draper Valley and Petaluma Poultry, Umpqua Valley Lamb and North America Bison Coop. PCC's own Natural Express line of pre-seasoned meats and poultry as well as private label jerky and sausages from a tidy endcap sandwiched between the sustainable beef and poultry sections. An anteroom serves as the bulk section where more than 150 offerings of pasta, grains, rice, beans, spices, snacks, sweets, flours and cereals sit in clear bins. Green labels on bins advertise the organic pedigree about 65 percent make the grade. Across the way, stacks of coffee bean canisters sit atop each other all organic, shade-grown and fair trade. Locally roasting all of the beans is the next frontier, and Crane says it's imminent, with Equal Exchange signed on to roast all the PCC Fremont beans. Coffee from Tony's wear the PCC Farmland Trust seal meaning this company contributes to the decade-old organization that works to preserve organic farmland. Other companies joining in the cause include Talking Rain, Choice Organic PCC Natural Markets is a leader in merchandising perishables and deli innovations. By Kathleen Finn Natural Food Network Contributing Writer Puget Consumer's Cooperative INNOVATORS IN THE EVOLUTION OF AMERICAN CO-OPS 18 Natural Food Network