Theo’s Fresh Produce will open its doors at 8221 Greenwood Ave. N. at 8 a.m. Friday, with free samples and lots of chances to win raffle prizes.
Prizes include gift baskets from Theo Chocolates, United Natural Foods Inc., JC Wright Specialty Co., Java! Java! Coffee Co., Natural Foods Northwest, a case of steaks from Stockyard Meats, and one loaf of artisan bread per month from Grand Central Baking Co. Customers will get a raffle ticket for every purchase, and you must be present at 3 p.m. Sunday for the raffle drawings.
“My goal is to have the store jam packed on Sunday,” Owner Theo LaConte said.
He says his suppliers were happy to donate to the grand opening. “I’ve been in the business a long time, so they all know me,” said LaConte, who started in the produce business picking fruits and vegetables in the Kent Valley at the age of 12.
The grand prize is a green Pacific “dualie” tandem bike.
LaConte and his suppliers were busy stocking when I dropped by on Tuesday afternoon. Here’s LaConte bringing out the potatoes.
Here’s the front of the store.
And here’s looking toward the back, with the dry goods and eventual bulk foods section in the back.
Theo’s carries a decent selection of other goods, too, such as pasta, sauce, cereal, peanut butter, crackers, canned tomatoes, olive oil, baby food, diapers, paper towels and cleaning supplies. He plans to have a large selection of gluten-free foods, and the bulk food section in the back is coming soon.
The store also has an espresso machine, more as a convenience, because LaConte says he doesn’t really want to compete with all the coffee shops in the area.
Theo’s will hand out lots of free samples all weekend, and LaConte will occasionally yell out produce-related trivia questions. Answer correctly and get a prize.
Theo’s Fresh Produce will be open 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., seven days a week.
16 responses so far ↓
1 Penny // Sep 29, 2010 at 3:26 pm
Looking forward to checking this place out.
2 Iron City Mike // Sep 29, 2010 at 4:03 pm
See Whopper, WhopperJr, and the rest of the gang there Friday!
3 Neighbor // Sep 29, 2010 at 5:49 pm
More competition for the Farmers Market vendors, I presume?!? I trust Theo and his brethren are a friend of the sustainability paradigm, not an enemy of it.
4 baselle // Sep 29, 2010 at 8:59 pm
I’m excited! It’ll be great to see that space re-open again.
5 MM // Sep 29, 2010 at 9:08 pm
so so so excited
6 petsfriend // Sep 29, 2010 at 9:58 pm
Welcome THEO!
7 Anna // Sep 30, 2010 at 12:46 am
Very cool!! Excited to finally have better produce than Safeway nearby (I hope!).
8 SMB // Sep 30, 2010 at 5:43 am
Good grief, Neighbor. Would you rather have another Starbucks? You know, just so the Farmer’s Market doesn’t have any competition (as if the Farmer’s Market is the only place to buy fruit and vegetables anyway)?
According to this earlier article (http://www.phinneywood.com/2010/08/16/theo%E2%80%99s-fresh-produce-opening-in-old-mud-bay-space/), “his store will feature plenty of produce from hundreds of local farms”–yeah, they must just HATE having their goods available at another, possibly more convenient, location.
9 SMB // Sep 30, 2010 at 5:47 am
…and I forgot to mention how incredibly excited I am that this place is opening up! (I can rarely make it to a Farmer’s Market, so local farmers actually get relatively little of my money when I’d much prefer to buy from them than from QFC.)
10 Greenwood // Sep 30, 2010 at 8:22 am
Plus, the Phinney Farmer’s Market isn’t open year round! This will be great.
11 JLW // Sep 30, 2010 at 9:01 am
welcome theo! i live right around the corner and really look forward to going in and getting what i need veggie and fruit wise. looking to support local farmers and getting fresh produce!
12 Iron City Mike // Sep 30, 2010 at 6:02 pm
Hopefully that store will help revitalize that whole stretch of Greenwood Ave. Just today I saw someone taking pictures of the long vacant storefront next to Uncouth Buzzard. If people still opened record store, that would be the perfect place for one!
13 sezdog // Oct 1, 2010 at 10:59 am
Super glad they’re opening! (Frankly, it’s not easy for me to make it to the Phinney Farmer’s Mrkt during work hours on a Friday.) I’m glad someone is willing to take the risk of opening a business. It will be good to have them in the neighborhood!
14 ZoeDog // Oct 1, 2010 at 12:55 pm
I am happy they are open, too. I go to the Phinney Farmer’s Market as often as I can, there are times when I need to supplement. I hope they are successful.
15 codeblue // Oct 5, 2010 at 12:43 pm
I am excited for an easy, small and convenient place like this to open. Checked it out today. I will come back for little things or last minute items but won’t do a lot of shopping there. No one greeted me when I walked in or made an attempt to engage me while I was there. Produce wasn’t that great either. Sort of hit and miss.
We shall see as time goes on if things improve.
16 Matt // Feb 3, 2011 at 11:56 pm
Man … I had great hopes for this place … but it seems there were problems from the beginning … I hope they survive but it isn’t looking good …
For a place named for its produce, they sell produce of very low quality — the sort of stuff I could get at Safeway, except wilted. Groceries are a brutal, low-margin business, unless you go high-end … I wish these guys well, but so far it’s looked like they’ve lacked some of the common sense to make this work. From my pov, the appear to be over-staffed, under organized and unoriginal.
I wish it were otherwise.
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