EASTHAMPTON — A former car dealership on Route 10 could become a second location for the River Valley Co-op, meeting its mission to continue building a strong local food system and accommodating the continued growth in customers at its existing Northampton site.
The idea of securing an option to purchase 228 Northampton St., previously Fedor Oldsmobile Pontiac, is about ensuring the future for the co-op, which is often crowded at its 330 King St. location, said Andrea Stanley, president of River Valley Co-op’s board.
“The current store in Northampton has some limitations that limit our growth as a co-op,” Stanley said Monday. “There wasn’t as much of an understanding at the start, when we opened the store 10 years ago, about how much volume it would bring.”
The option on the 3.17-acre Easthampton site allows at least a year for due diligence, planning and fundraising before the co-op, which is owned by 9,500 area families, decides if it will actually buy the property.
If the co-op decides to go forward with the second location, the most optimistic timeline would be to break ground in spring 2019 and have its doors open in spring 2020.
While there was no mention of the project’s prospective cost, the Northampton store cost $7.3 million.
Plans call for 11,000 square feet of retail space on the first floor, plus additional space for preparation and staff areas. These plans also include a mezzanine-style second floor for offices, staff spaces and a community meeting space.
“We are looking to build a store of the same size, but with a larger parking lot than the Northampton store,” general manager Rochelle Prunty said in a statement.
The site would include 150 customer parking spaces, significantly more than the 92 in Northampton. There would also be on-site parking for the 100 employees who would be hired.
Stanley said the co-op board sees a second site as a way to continue to feed the community with local produce.
“Easthampton was a really good fit for us because there were a lot of small businesses already in the area, a lot of local farmers that we already support,” Stanley said.
She also noted that the new store would be closer for many existing customers, cutting 10 to 15 minutes off their travel times to get groceries, as well as reaching new customers.
On Friday, the co-op’s leadership team met with Easthampton Mayor Nicole LaChapelle to discuss the plan.
LaChapelle said the co-op is already a benefit to the city and to its farmers, with Easthampton-grown kale and assorted baked goods already at the Northampton location.
“I think it’s a smart business move on behalf of the co-op to be so interested in Easthampton as a space for their second store,” LaChapelle said on Monday. “More and more has Easthampton become a crossroads between the Hamptons and Holyoke and it’s becoming a budding business community.”
Prunty said the co-op is ready to engage with the Easthampton community in developing the plans, understanding that traffic will be a concern.
A Stop & Shop supermarket planned at 93-99 Northampton St., south of the River Valley Co-op’s potential location, received a special permit in 2010 that requires installation of a new traffic signal.
Besides working with the city on the project, River Valley Co-op is partnering with Wright Builders, Thomas Douglas Architects, Berkshire Design and NCG Development Co-op in planning the development of the store.
