30 responses so far ↓

• 1 liz // Aug 17, 2009 at 9:37 am

  I believe there’s been a bakery at that location ever since … until recently. We really need one there. Hope Ken’s will provide a good bakery somehow. (Honestly, Ken’s current bakery offerings are no substitute.)

• 2 Brian // Aug 17, 2009 at 9:52 am

  I still miss the Couth Buzzard. Now, Epilogue Books down on Market is gone too.

• 3 Trix // Aug 17, 2009 at 10:03 am

  Yeah, losing Couth Buzzard over there was tragic.
  I do wonder why anyone ever shops at Ken’s. A decent deli, but that doesn’t make up for zero selection at twice the cost of everywhere else. Plus the checkers are rude. IMHO.

• 4 christy // Aug 17, 2009 at 10:10 am

  People shop at Ken’s because they can walk there, leave their dogs and strollers outside with no issues, and because they have most things you need. I personally like the selection. I don’t need 20 kinds of sponges or 150 kinds of cereal. I just need a sponge, and grape nuts. They also have a knack for carrying hard to find things–like liquid pectin for jam.

• 5 etta // Aug 17, 2009 at 10:15 am

  Ken’s is a great place to buy salad.

• 6 liz // Aug 17, 2009 at 10:44 am

  I like the checkers. I like the convenience. I shop at Ken’s quite a bit. But the deli and pre-cooked meals don’t work well for a vegetarian (let alone vegan — am I the only one?).

  And I still really want a *real* bakery; we don’t have one on the Ridge.

  And yes, I miss Couth Buzzard, but that’s another matter.

• 7 Neighbor // Aug 17, 2009 at 11:05 am

  @6: No, Liz, you are not the only one who finds value in local groceries vs. the right-wing corporate megachains (Whole Foods, Safeway, etc.). that our other neighbors apparently patronize. Unlike others in the immediate vicinity, I truly support Ken’s’ effort to expand its local business in this down economy.

  It does bug me that so many Seattlites call for density and walkable communities. But when they do get something great like a local centrally located grocer — that folks on the other side of Green Lake would kill to have, after the death of Albertsons — they complain about high prices, lack of precooked vegan dinner options and supposedly surly staff (who’ve never been anything but nice to me in the many years I’ve shopped there). You can’t have it both ways, my friends.

  And speaking of rude: I enjoyed the food at the bakery that used to be next door, but in terms of character, the owner was a “card,” to put it lightly.

• 8 Iron City Mike // Aug 17, 2009 at 11:07 am

  Very cool.

• 9 Nater // Aug 17, 2009 at 11:11 am

  I like the prices and the selection at Ken’s, and I’ve always found their staff to be polite and engaging. Neighborhood-sized stores like Ken’s are important to creating community. Alternatively, big box auto-dependent stores like Safeway and Fred Meyer destroy that sense of community, and make big profits from hawking lower quality goods.

• 10 Trix // Aug 17, 2009 at 11:16 am

  Ballard Market and Greenwood Markets manage to have variety, decent prices (you shouldn’t get sticker shock from a can of cat food) and the checkers aren’t too busy chatting with each other to notice someone wants to actually pay for groceries.
  Again, just my humble opinion based on my shopping experience at Ken’s.

• 11 Jakey // Aug 17, 2009 at 11:27 am

  Ken’s rocks. Can’t wait for the expanded version.

• 12 Julie // Aug 17, 2009 at 11:46 am

  I mostly shop for produce at Ken’s. I love that they are selling from local farms when they can. I think the staff is amazingly friendly and efficient. They always get another checker as soon as there is any line at all. Some of the prices are higher but I pay that for the convenience of walking over there.

  For vegetarian, I supplement with trips to Fred Meyer’s natural food section where tofu, beans, grains, etc are all reasonably priced as is organic dairy.

• 13 js // Aug 17, 2009 at 12:38 pm

  I love kens and they have always treated me nicely. If you dont have any thing nice to say , go somewhereelse. Very cool old sign.

• 14 zoni // Aug 17, 2009 at 2:27 pm

  I really wish the bakery was back too. The name Greenwood Electric Bakery sounds like a should be a rock band! It wouldn’t be the first band to be named after a bakery. Anyone here ever heard of PFM? (Premiata Forneria Marconi)

• 15 Amy // Aug 17, 2009 at 2:46 pm

  Trix, since you’re wondering why people shop at Ken’s, I’ll share my reasoning. My experience at both Ballard and Greenwood Market has been the complete opposite of yours and much like what you describe you find at Ken’s. I’ve had checkers pull someone from behind me in line to ring them up and then promptly close their station. This has happened at both markets. The prices at Greenwood Market aren’t any better (read: lower) than Ken’s, but I don’t utilize either store for my regular stock-up items so I avoid the high cost that way. I also find the GWM to be out of stock on many items I need, not items that I want or that would be nice to have, no, the basics. I got tired of having to stop at another store after a shopping trip at GWM. I also have had better luck with Ken’s meat and produce–I’ve purchased more bad fish at both Ballard and GWM than I care to so I’ve stopped purchasing fish from them. I do agree with you about sticker shock on the can of cat food, but to avoid that I don’t buy my cat food there and have only done so for emergencies, so any sticker shock is my own fault for not having stocked up at my regular place.

• 16 Trix // Aug 17, 2009 at 3:48 pm

  JS – it’s called an opinion. I’m not trying to tell anyone not to shop at Ken’s. I’m just explaining why I don’t and wonder if anyone else feels the same. Obviously not.
  I don’t eat meat, Amy, so I can’t comment on the quality of the fish at Ballard Market but I love the giant produce section, and the fact the cat food isle isn’t taking up my entire grocery budget. I don’t drive so I don’t have the option of getting my cat food somewhere else first.

• 17 john walker // Aug 17, 2009 at 4:25 pm

  i hope they carve that out carefully and save it. maybe there’s more signage to come after the siding is off.

• 18 Yay Kens! // Aug 17, 2009 at 4:25 pm

  As a Ken’s Market employee, I’m thrilled to read all this positive feedback. There’s a reason we’re usually considered happy and helpful… we’re treated well! Without getting into specifics, our wages are more than fair. All full time employees get health and dental, completely covered by work. Our opinions are valued, and our bosses have very open doors.

  … yeah, we can get chatty with each other. But we tend to get chatty with our customers as well! We love seeing familiar faces, asking you about your kids, checking in with you about how your house project is going, etc.. It’s nice to work someplace that has a sense of community (… and were we can check in with each other and chat).

  And yes, some of our prices are hard to swallow. But we’re just a little family owned store. We can’t score the same deals from our vendors, we just aren’t able to buy enough to get much in the way of savings. But as we grow, and as we (hopefully) get more of your business, we’ll be able to meet you half way on this.

• 19 Jon // Aug 17, 2009 at 4:43 pm

  I would also like to see a great bakery move in along Greenwood. Something similar to Tall Grass, in Ballard. That, along with a local mom-n-pop video game store. Those are the two things I desire.

  As for prices, I haven’t shopped at Ken’s in a while, simply due to budget constraints. It is in a nice, walkable location, though. That said, I would like to see them prosper and lower their prices a bit. The more competition in the area, the better.

• 20 new to the 'hood // Aug 17, 2009 at 5:15 pm

  wow, @ #18 Kens Market employee –

  are you hiring?!

• 21 Nikos // Aug 17, 2009 at 7:26 pm

  I agree with Jon. We need a great bakery. But a simple boulangerie would suffice. Who else has a weakness for fresh croissants and baguettes? Let’s make some noise, people!

• 22 Jon // Aug 18, 2009 at 12:26 am

  Fresh croissants and baguettes in the neighborhood? What must I do? Write my congressman?

  Speaking of which, what’s the best ‘sort-of-close’ bakery for affordable french breads?

• 23 Stu // Aug 18, 2009 at 6:04 am

  Need a bakery in the neighborhood? What’s all that stuff at Fresh Flours then?

• 24 Iron City Mike // Aug 18, 2009 at 7:08 am

  At least the old sign was preserved – maybe we’ll see it again in 50 years when the new plywood put up this week comes down.

• 25 Amalala // Aug 18, 2009 at 11:35 am

  ELECTRIC BAKERY!!! I wish I could see that sign every day. Can’t we make that happen?

• 26 Lynn // Aug 18, 2009 at 11:39 am

  Ken’s vs. Greenwood or Ballard Markets? The latter two are blight on Town & Country Markets. The folks who own that group need to take stock of how those two stores have gone downhill – especially Greenwood. Want to see tweakers shoplifting? Go to Greenwood. People eating out of the bulk foods? Greenwood again. Stale meat and seafood? Ditto. Produce – it’s hard to beat Ballard and Greenwood for consistent quality and selection. That’s a Town & Country hallmark.
  Service? Now that I think about it both the QA Ken’s and Phinney Ken’s don’t offer personal shoppers to assist me in selecting which bottled water is best for my French Bulldog (editor’s note: I just got the FB because it’s fast become a dog of choice. Let my Newfoundland loose so it could run away and I’d be rid of it.). Second to my FB’s water comes my little Chamberlain’s food needs. Chamberlain is allergic to SO many things. There’s no one at Ken’s to sort through items and select Chamberlain’s needs for me but I make do. Plus I close my eyes and hold my nose whenever I see any of those dreadful items containing HFCS. But I digress….. Ken’s has great service throughout their stores and I’m not looking for a NBFF when I shop there. I enjoy the staff and the mutual rapport I always encounter. However I’m being pulled towards Whole Foods given the CEO’s recent comments. Oh – oh; There I go digressing once more.
  Why am I doing this? This thread started as an interesting post about a very unique sign. Then things quickly turned into a food fight. But I forget – this is Seattle. Post and ask where to buy a cherry pie and odds are there will be more responses educating about how to bake a cherry pie, the evils of cherry pie or where the *BEST* “heirloom” organic cherries can be found. Then toss in discussion about how *BEST* is subjective. Now as far as cherry pie my vote goes to the recently opened Seattle Pie Co in Magnolia. Better yet, their strawberry – rhubarb pie. DOH! I’m digressing again. Where’s my Ritalin?

• 27 liz // Aug 18, 2009 at 1:03 pm

  Stu, You’re right, Fresh Flours is a very good bakery for pastries (no bread–am I right?) But it’s hours of operation and supply are geared to the cafe business.

• 28 Phil // Aug 18, 2009 at 2:34 pm

  We have so little history, and it’s so recent, and yet even what little we have we do so little to preserve! Shame on the contractor for just banging new plywood over this old sign within a couple of hours! Think of how they could have treated it as a community treasure when they discovered it, how Ken’s could have gotten lots of publicity by making a little “presentation” of it to the neighborhood. It’s just painted on some boards, they could have made an effort to remove them and save it as a decoration somewhere (the bakery department in their new store?) or even auctioned it off. So much of our history is lost so often because nobody cares. Now we just have one photo, luckily taken for a blog. Sad.

• 29 Sara // Aug 18, 2009 at 8:14 pm

  I called the store manager, Scott, right after I saw this post go up yesterday morning and asked if I could salvage the sign. He was very friendly and interested in seeing if it was possible…but by the time I got up to the store, the contractors had already put up the tacking strip and were ready to add the plywood. It’s too bad. I would have loved the sign.
  I noticed today that the sign isn’t completely covered. Maybe it could still be saved? It would be a great piece of history to preserve. I would have been thrilled to hang it in my home, but it really belongs somewhere that others can enjoy it too.

• 30 Pagooey // Aug 18, 2009 at 9:36 pm

  @ Nikos, Honore French Bakery on 70th and 14th-ish is tiny but fantastic….pastries only though, no bread.

  Also, please come out to see my new band, the Electric Bakery.

Leave a Comment