On the afternoon of October 31,
cars and people moved through Barkley Village in a crowded, chaotic ballet
after the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Haggen’s Northwest Fresh remodel. Adding to the event’s theatrical mood, a
quarter of the shoppers were in costume.
It was the first of two “community
celebrations” to commemorate the facelift of Haggen at Barkley Village,
according to Haggen’s website. The second event, a grand opening, will take
place on Nov. 3 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
According to store manager George
Feldman, Barkley Haggen added about 1200 new items to its shelves in the update
to Northwest Fresh. The arrangement of the aisles and products has also
changed, leaving a design that Feldman called “much more central.”
“The whole idea behind Northwest
Fresh is to open things up,” he said.
The product additions and new layout are meant to draw
attention to local, organic, and gluten-free foods, Feldman said.
However,
food isn’t the only prominently displayed item on Haggen shelves: there’s also
a plethora of beer, wine and spirits, about which some customers are critical.
“The alcohol has become the focal
point,” said Anna Maxwell, who said she enjoys an occasional drink but doesn’t want
booze in the center of her shopping experience.
Gina Urcuyo, who represents Barkley
in the Mayor’s Neighborhood Advisory Commission, echoed that sentiment: “I
don’t like the placement of alcohol at the front entrance of the store,” she
said.
Feldman said that alcohol sat in
front while Haggen during the rearranging process, but that it is now in a
less-visible “permanent position.”
Kids and adults dressed as witches,
fairies, superheroes, hillbillies and more roamed the aisles in search of
purchases and samples. Offerings of free food included mussels, candied smoked
salmon, donuts, chocolate, sausage, granola, grapes, and garlicky spreads.
Local farmers stood behind the sample tables, handing out food they’d grown or
slaughtered.
Another Northwest Fresh update is
the addition of a wooden gazebo-like structure in the center of the store
called “Discovery Bay,” where Keith Paddock of Penn Cove Shellfish fried
mussels and chatted with shoppers.
Paddock, who lives in Anacortes,
said that “Discovery Bay” would be used in the future to showcase events such
as wine tastings, wine classes, and cooking classes.
He said he was surprised to return
to Bellingham after a year of absence to find that Barkley had grown so much.
“It’s like
a whole new town now,” he said.
Feldman said that the response to
Northwest Fresh has been positive so far. “The ambience is warm, open and
inviting,” he said. “The employees and guests love what’s been done here.”
Not everyone at the Wednesday
celebration shared that opinion, however. While she praised Haggen for always
having “exotic” ingredients if she was looking for them, Maxwell said that she
thought things were fine before the change to Northwest Fresh.
“I think it’s really nice, but I’m
having a hard time finding things now,” she said.
Shoppers’ facial expressions varied
from enthralled to bewildered to downright angry as they navigated Haggen’s new
layout. One woman paced agitatedly in circles, inquiring to no one where they
had moved the pharmacy.
“I’ve got very little time, and
this is taking too much of it. I live out in the county, close to this store,
and I’m going to start doing my shopping somewhere else,” she said. She would not provide her name.
A spokesman for Monster Energy
Drinks, David, spent the afternoon observing the parking lot and handing out
free beverages. He didn’t see any accidents, but remarked, “This parking lot is
too small. Too many cars, too few spots.”
Haggen has 14 stores open in
Washington and two in Oregon. Feldman said that the Northwest Fresh model is
only at Barkley right now, but he expects that the Meridian and Fairhaven
Haggens will undergo similar changes.
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