Washington AG clears path for a new grocery store in Bellingham’s Birchwood neighborhood
Albertsons supermarkets can no longer prevent other grocery stores from using its former north Bellingham location, state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said Tuesday.
Ferguson said in an emailed statement that the land restrictions on the site are illegal, and created a “food desert” in the Birchwood neighborhood, one of Bellingham’s poorest and ethnically diverse areas.
“By creating these illegal restrictions, Albertsons ensured that a competitor could not open a grocery store in this neighborhood. Shoppers had no choice but to travel to other stores farther away, including a Haggen the company owned a few miles away,” Ferguson said.
As a result of Ferguson’s investigation, Albertsons removed the restrictions, meaning that a grocery store will be able to do business in that location. Albertsons must also pay a $25,000 fine to cover the cost of the investigation, Ferguson said.
The property has been sold twice since Albertsons closed its store in May 2016 and is now a Big Lots! discount store, according to Bellingham Herald records. But the restrictions imposed by Albertsons barred a grocery store from moving into the shopping center through 2038. Bellingham banned these kinds of property restrictions related to grocery stores in 2019, but its ordinance could not apply retroactively.
Mayor Kim Lund told The Bellingham Herald that she was pleased to hear about Ferguson’s action.
“This is a positive, welcome and important development that we hope will result in increased access to abundant, affordable healthy food choices in that area of our community,” Lund said in an email.
City Council member Hannah Stone, who represents Ward 1 where the Park Manor shopping center is located, told The Herald that the ruling is a “huge victory” for Birchwood residents.
“Although I regret that our community had to wait eight long years for Albertsons to remove what we believed to be an illegal land use restriction, I am grateful for the advocacy and action by the attorney general. Access to healthy food options and fresh groceries is vital for every neighborhood,” Stone told The Herald in an email.
Since the Albertsons closed, an activist group called the Birchwood Food Desert Fighters formed to ensure greater food access by organizing food and garden-sharing networks. The group hosts weekly food distributions and stocks eight community food share boxes.
Tina McKim of the Food Desert Fighters told The Herald that she and others were “so pleased and excited” when they learned of the ruling.
“What a wonderful thing after eight long years. We’re thrilled — beyond thrilled. But we still have work to do,” McKim told The Herald in an interview.
“We’re going to keep fighting to make sure that groceries actually show up,” she said.
McKim said that she wouldn’t want any of the stores in Park Manor to close. And she said that the neighbors should have a voice if a supermarket expresses interest in opening.
Ferguson’s investigation into the Bellingham issue started before Kroger and Albertsons, the two largest supermarket chains in Washington, announced their proposed merger.
Kroger owns Fred Meyer stores and Albertsons owns Safeway and Haggen stores.
In January, Ferguson filed suit to stop the merger.
Ferguson is running for governor among a field of 28 candidates in the Aug. 6 primary.
McKim told The Herald that the Food Desert Fighters have been talking to Ferguson about the proposed merger.
“This is a tremendous victory after eight long years and we’re still working to fight this merger,” McKim said. “This isn’t just a Birchwood problem, this is a nationwide problem. This is something that’s always happening in low-income neighborhoods.”
This story was originally published June 25, 2024 at 10:38 AM.
