After long wait, Gig Harbor’s Metropolitan Market opens in a crush of carts
Build it, and they will come, the saying goes. And so they did.
Metropolitan Market opened the doors of its long-awaited Gig Harbor store Oct. 7 to a crowd that snaked across the adjoining plaza and down the sidewalk, past the beauty salon and the Greek restaurant.
Inside, there was a crush of carts from the bakery to the butcher shop.
“It’s beautiful,” said Catherine Tackes, who said she waited about 40 minutes to be among the first through the doors. “Everything is so shiny and well-lighted. I’m so excited to have them here.”
When the doors opened at 9 a.m., it marked the end of a years-long tease for impatient shoppers. The store at 5010 Point Fosdick Dr. has been under renovation for almost a year. The building in the Harbor Plaza shopping center was formerly home to Main & Vine, an experimental grocery store operated by Kroger that closed in 2018.
“We’ve been waiting a long time,” said Lana Solnick, another early shopper. “It’s absolutely gorgeous.”
After only a few minutes inside, she already had a basket full of groceries, including some pricey steaks. “I’m afraid this is going to turn out to be a $100-a-trip store,” she said, laughing.
High-end market
Metropolitan Market, formerly known as Queen Anne Thriftway, is a high-end grocery chain based in Seattle, with a popular store in Tacoma’s Proctor District. The Gig Harbor store is the ninth location for the company, which has stores concentrated in affluent communities from West Seattle to Sammamish.
Mayor Kit Kuhn, who presided at the ceremonial ribbon-cutting, called the opening “a positive sign of economic development as our community grows and changes.”
“Metropolitan Market is an example of the positive impact good planning and growth can have,” the mayor said in remarks prepared for the occasion. “We get to welcome a much-loved grocer to our city, which increases the quality of life for local residents.”
Store manager Ginger Henderson said about 200 customers came through the doors in the first half-hour, before employees stopped counting. In a crisp apron and large pink glasses, she was circulating among the aisles, greeting her new customers.
“Coffee? I think that’s two aisles over,” she told a man seeking direction. “Sorry, I’m still learning where things are myself.”
Another customer interrupted. “It’s a beautiful store. You must be so proud to work here,” she said.
“Thank you. I am,” Henderson replied, glowing.
A run on The Cookie
There was a steady line at the bakery counter for The Cookie — the chain’s trademark chocolate-chip cookie. Baker Hokulani Valpoon said they were selling as fast as she could pull them out of the oven, about 200 in the first hour.
“We’ll sell a thousand of these by the end of the day,” she said.
It was the produce aisle that stopped customers in their tracks. They gaped, and then pulled out their cellphone cameras.
Like a still life on steroids, the peppers, carrots, celery stalks and cabbages were carefully arranged in colorful, repeating patterns with artful track lighting above. Customers extracted their choices gingerly, as if reluctant to spoil the effect.
“The produce managers are very proud of their work,” Henderson said. About 70 percent of the 110 jobs in the store have been filled by workers who live in the immediate Gig Harbor area, she said.
On other shelves were Fuyu persimmons, organic mangoes, passion fruit (at $4.49 each) and Chanterelle mushrooms. Customers browsing the seafood case could find smoked sockeye salmon candy, bacon-wrapped scallops and “citrus and herb-stuffed Branzino.”
“It’s expensive, but then I expected that,” said Lisa Pierce, who was flipping through a store mailer looking for bargains. She had a basket full of impulse buys, including chips, brown eggs and bacon that was on sale.
“My husband wouldn’t do this,” she laughed.
Heather Adams was browsing the store with two friends, old school chums.
“I love it,” she said. “I like that they have a good mix of prepared items and basics I can cook with when I’m feeling domestic. I’m a busy mom, and I appreciated having prepared foods and I just grab and serve.”
In her cart: chips, salsa, soup, several kinds of cheese, cider and milk. “So tonight, maybe a dips and salsa bar?” she said.
“I live only five minutes away, which is good, but I’m a little worried about what that’s going to do to my pocketbook — and my waistline,” she said.
More stores on the way
Two other big grocery stores are on the horizon for Gig Harbor, The Gateway and The News Tribune have reported. Town & County is looking at a downtown site for its own high-end store, and the developers of Harbor Hill in the city’s north end are still looking for a tenant for a planned supermarket there.
Town & Country says it is considering the former Thriftway/QFC store location in the Peninsula Shopping Center on Judson Street downtown.
The Met Market store will join Safeway, Albertsons, Fred Meyers, Harbor Greens and Costco in the Gig Harbor market. There is also a longtime locally owned traditional grocer, Finholm’s Market, with a loyal following.
This story was originally published October 6, 2021 at 5:00 AM.