Haggen Inc. Adds Small-Format Store

BELLINGHAM, WA-Haggen Inc. has acquired a small-format neighborhood grocery store here that could be a sign of things to come for the locally headquartered 14-store chain.The private grocer acquired Fairhaven Market, a 27,500-sf store on the south side of the city. The store is about half the size of the 50,000-sf to 60,000-sf stores the company been opening in recent years. A company spokesman confirmed for GlobeSt.com that the company has been working on a plan for smaller stores for some time now, and the Fairhaven store will be a good experiment. If successful, Haggen may look to spread the idea into markets like Seattle or Portland, where it would be difficult to find the five or more acres necessary to develop a typical Haggen store.Haggen currently has several locations north of Seattle and four more in the suburbs surrounding Portland, but no stores within the city limits of the either city. Fairhaven will be the company’s second new store this year. Two months ago, it opened a 52,000-sf store in the Shoreline area north of Seattle.Haggen opened its first store on Bay Street in Bellingham in 1933. In 1989, Haggen was the first grocer in the US to offer and in-store Starbucks Coffee Shop.