Since celebrating its first anniversary last month, Pacific Point Market’s management and staff continue to be encouraged by customer response to the full-service grocery store, which employs 34 people.
“We’ve been pleasantly surprised with how people have embraced it,” says owner Tod English. “We have great management and staff and are very proud of how the business is performing from a startup phase.”
The biggest challenge, according to English, has been educating the public that the store includes everything customers require on a grocery shopping trip.
“It’s the first time we’ve had this level of produce, meat and the variety of other products at this location for as long I can remember, since I was a kid,” adds English. “Getting people to think about us when they leave their house for a shopping experience has been our main focus.”
In addition to the meat department, extensive produce section and a full selection of standard grocery items, Pacific Point Market features an in-house Serious Coffee franchise, bakery and full-service deli; each department delivers top quality products at a reasonable price.
“Everything in our deli is made fresh here in the store,” explains general manager Chris McMillan. “And we have plenty of organic and natural food choices in each department.”
Fresh food items are found throughout the store, including in the bakery, where A Bread Affair organic bread, available exclusively in Powell River at Pacific Point, is fresh-baked daily and available among other choices such as baguettes, loaves, rolls and pastries.
More than a dozen local companies provide products for each area of the store, including eggs, chicken, berries, zucchini and lettuce.
“We’re buying locally as much as we can, including organic,” says McMillan.
Local suppliers include 32 Lakes Coffee, Raincoast Kombucha, Garden Gate Spices, One Tree Farm, Green Buyers Club, Funky Beets Farm, Rusty Gate Farm, Coast Berry Company, Pebble Beach Prawns, Bay Leaf Blessings, Sweet Earth Soapworks and Flowers by Cori-Lynn.
The store’s location at 7013 Thunder Bay Street is also equipped with a pickup window for ice cream and slushies, an outside sitting area, hot meals to go and an entirely organic, 59-bin bulk section featuring a variety of products, including oats, barley, nuts, seeds and dried fruit.
For customers on the go or with time to spare, Serious Coffee has options for everyone. A menu comprised of daily soups, sandwiches, breakfast items, snacks and pastries can be picked up via its handy drive-through lane or enjoyed inside on comfortable seating beside its fireplace, television or exterior windows.
For regular customers, a loyalty program earns points for every penny spent at the market, which members can redeem at any time for all products sold in store.
“We have five $100 gift-card giveaways every month for our loyalty program members,” says McMillan.
Tying in with its “buy local first” mandate, Pacific Point is a proud participant in the 100-mile challenge, which encourages consumers to eat food grown, produced and sold within 100 miles of their homes; as many products as possible are sourced from within that range and made available to customers.
Along with the Powell River region, that territory encompasses Vancouver, Sunshine Coast, Whistler and as far south as Duncan on Vancouver Island.
“We have a lot of products from Sea to Sky and Vancouver and dairy from Island Farms,” says McMillan.
Catering service is also available for special events, as are meat and veggie trays for pickup.
Pacific Point Market is open 6 am-10 pm, seven days a week. To learn about local delivery service in the Powell River area, including Savary Island, or for more information, call 604.489.9111, email [email protected] or go to pacificpointmarket.com.
