Customers, members, co-op board directors and designers, city officials and others attended the official opening of the Seward Co-op’s new location at 2823 E. Franklin Ave.

Photo by Jeremy Stratton

Despite the single-digit temperature, a large crowd joined city officials, members of the design team and co-op board and members on Jan. 8 for a ceremonial “vine-cutting” to mark the official opening of the Seward Co-op’s new location at 2823 E. Franklin Ave.

Ward Two Council Member Cam Gordon praised the project, which he noted replaces a substandard building, improves the Franklin Avenue corridor, will expand the tax base and provide jobs.

Gordon noted that city officials weigh the public benefit of such projects before approving it. “This is a model for us,” he said of the new co-op, an early cornerstone of the city’s Great Streets program.

Soon after the vine-cutting, as she perused the “Wellness” section, Tova Sularz, who was “born and raised” in Seward, called the new store “awesome” and looked forward to a larger selection than at the former, smaller co-op — like products she’s seen at other co-ops around the country. “I imagine, with more space, there’ll be more of those products here, as well,” she said.

In that same vein, employee Chris Madden said it’s “good to have the chance to offer more products that we didn’t have before.” Madden, who works in the refrigerated groceries section, pointed to the expanded selection of eggs — all from a now-larger pool of local farmers.

Holly Erickson, who worked as a juicer in the deli of the two previous co-op locations from 1994 until 2001, took time to praise the co-op for how well she has been treated as both an employee and a customer. Erickson, who is deaf, related to The Bridge the story of how other deli employees – who “didn’t want to work in front,” she said — encouraged her to take on the more-customer-service-oriented position.

“People treated me so equally,” she said of colleagues and customers alike. “It didn’t matter that I was deaf or not.”

The new $10.5 million, 25,600-sqaure-foot facility was built to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold standards (certification pending.)

Watch for a full feature about the new co-op in our February issue.

last revised: January 11, 2009

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