Main & Vine focuses on community connection

With a burst of live jazz music and the promise of tote bags filled with goodies, the new Main & Vine grocery store opened it’s doors Feb. 3 to eagerly assembled Gig Harbor shoppers.

Main & Vine is a new concept store by Kroger that is focused on fresh produce and foods, plus strong connection and partnerships with the community.

“Here at Main & Vine our No. 1 focus is community,” store manager Dann Kohl said at the store’s preview event held Feb. 2.

To further illustrate its dedication to the local community, the store donated checks totaling $2,500 each to the Gig Harbor FISH food bank and Key Peninsula Community Service. Additionally, Main & Vine will be the premiere sponsor for the Downtown Waterfront Farmer’s Market in 2016, supporting local farmers and accessibility to fresh produce.

John and Patricia “Pat” Lantz attended the preview event and were impressed by the selection as well as the store’s dedication to supporting the community.

“It’s absolutely glorious,” Pat Lantz, a former state representative, said. “Local produce, local meat and community support ... I’m looking forward to seeing all my neighbors here.”

“(Their) willingness to be a sponsor for the Downtown Farmer’s Market and the community is great,” John Lantz said.

Main & Vine also solicited a partnership with local Artondale Farm for its handmade goat’s milk beauty products, now on sale in the store.

Other community partnerships include the Gig Harbor Boat Shop — which restored a boat used for a display — and with artist and Gig Harbor native Lita Dawn Ancich, who painted a mural in the store in partnership with muralist Bob Henry.

The mural covers the wall beside the store’s main doors and depicts Gig Harbor’s fishing industry, with section in the upstairs seating area that gives a nod to the harbor’s recreational boaters.

The boats in the mural are based on actual wood fishing boats used by Gig Harbor fishermen, Ancich said, which where her focus in the project, while Henry focused on the water and background areas of the mural.

“(It’s) fall fishing right outside Gig Harbor,” Ancich said of the mural. “I have fishing family history, so to place a piece of Gig Harbor history in the middle of a new concept market is so wonderful. How often do you get a blank canvas that big?”

Mayor Jill Guernsey summed up the overall sentiment surrounding the opening of the store.

“We are so thankful you are finally open,” she said at the preview event. “We are so excited to be one of the first Main & Vine stores in the country. We are so looking forward to having you in our community.”

Main & Vine is located at 5010 Point Fosdick Dr NW.

This story was originally published February 10, 2016 at 10:09 AM with the headline "Main & Vine focuses on community connection."