New Seasons’ newest store.Photo: April StreeterNew Seasons, an upscale Whole Foods-style grocery store that has enjoyed massive success in Portland, Ore., is opening its seventh store this week. The newest store, in the dense (watch the webcam to see how dense) inner-city Hawthorne Street neighborhood, has something of a surprise. Rooftop parking for cars, and rows of bright blue staples in front of the store for bicycles. Well, perhaps that’s not so incredible. What makes it much better is that according to Bike Portland, the sum total of bike spots (50) outnumbers the slim number of car parking spaces (36).
Already during the planning and design of its seventh store, New Seasons knew that it would have to get creative to deal with the extremely dense urban corner that 41st and Hawthorne is, to get along with the city and the neighbors. An earlier store nearby in the Ladd’s neighborhood has generated a lot of complaints as the parking lot is narrow and nearly always jam packed, and the traffic patterns to and from the store are egregious.
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