POULSBO — Safeway’s grand opening has special significance for Harold Frombach, and not because he lives just up the street.
Frombach’s first job was with Safeway, from 1943-1950, when the company was a group of about 20 Seattle-area neighborhood stores.
Frombach was hired at age 12 sweeping floors, putting beer bottles in crates, pricing items, and filling the oil stove. He first worked at the store on 19th and Prospect on Capitol Hill, but over the ensuing years spent time at all 20 locations.
“That building is still standing, but it’s not a Safeway,” Frombach said. “It only measured 100 feet by 150 feet long. I think four people worked in the store.”
He worked in the grocery business — first for Safeway, then for a former manager who opened his own store — all through college and after he returned from Army service in Korea. In 1957, armed with an engineering degree from UW, he embarked on a career as a civilian engineer in Keyport. But he always looked back fondly on that first job at Safeway.
When he got his first job at age 12, he lived six blocks from Safeway. Today, he lives six blocks from the Poulsbo Safeway.
Poulsbo Safeway is scheduled to open its doors to the public on June 27 at 8 a.m.
The store and its adjacent fuel station are located at 19245 10th Ave. NE. It will be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and employ 160, according to Tairsa Swenson, public affairs manager for Safeway’s Northwest division.
The store is 59,000 square feet and has the following specialty features: fish and meat, organic and natural products, organic and locally-grown produce, floral kiosk with staff to custom create arrangements, fresh scratch bakery, deli, Starbucks kiosk, pharmacy and wellness center, wine department with steward and local selection, and an in-store branch of US Bank.
Customers can relax with a meal or cup of coffee in the deli seating area with picture windows and an indoor fireplace, or outside in front of the store.
The topography of the site allowed for surface parking in front as well as parking beneath the store. A ramp connecting the surface and underground parking lots provides customers with several opportunities to find parking onsite. The underground parking lot is accessible to traffic traveling northbound on Highway 305 or via the 10th Avenue ingress (furthest to the north). Customers exiting this lot will be directed to either a ramp to Highway 305 northbound, access 10th Avenue, or to utilize the ramp to the surface lot.
The surface lot provides for a right-in/right-out turn along Lincoln Road, and can also be accessed by traffic traveling north/south along 10th Avenue.
The fuel station adjacent to the surface lot has 10 fueling positions and will be open 24 hours per day. The fuel kiosk will be open from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
The Poulsbo Safeway is managed by Ryan Helton, who hired 120 local residents for his 160-employee team.
Expected to join Helton at the grand opening are Poulsbo Mayor Becky Erickson, Chamber of Commerce director Jan Harrison, Fishline executive director Mary Nader, and Miss Poulsbo Emily Ward.
Since it announced its plans to build in Poulsbo, Safeway has stepped forward to support local events and causes, including title sponsorship of Viking Fest and fireworks sponsor for the 3rd of July.
CVS PROJECT BEGINS
Demolition of the former Northwest Design Center on the corner of Highway 305 and Hostmark Street has begun.
Demolition crews steadily tore down the 38,172-square-foot structure over the course of the week, starting on June 25.
The 2.38-acre property will be cleared to make way for a CVS Pharmacy. It will be the second location for the pharmacy chain in Washington.
The City of Poulsbo approved site plans for the new CVS Pharmacy in March.
Construction of the new 14,500-square-foot pharmacy is expected to be finished by the end of 2014. The pharmacy will include health and beauty departments, general merchandise, food, and digital photo processing. The store is expected to be open 24 hours a day.
A yet-to-be-named fast-food restaurant will also be constructed on the site. The restaurant will be 3,995-square-feet and include 40 parking spaces. Before the first swing was taken at the building, the Poulsbo Fire Department seized the opportunity to use the vacant structure for a little practice over the June 20 weekend.
The training involved smoke ventilation as well as search and rescue.
“In a fire, many people don’t realize how quickly an area can turn black, making visibility virtually impossible,” Battalion Chief Jim Gillard said. “It’s much safer for victims trapped in a fire, as well as for firefighters, if the roof top can be cut open so the thick smoke can be channeled up and out of the structure.”
He added, “We really appreciate CVS Pharmacy, the new property owners, for giving us this great opportunity to train in a large commercial building. While there was no live fire in today’s training, firefighters also filled the inside of the building with smoke and practiced search and rescue techniques in the darkened, smoky building.”
