Weaver Street Market, Carrboro’s co-op store, will expand with a new grocery store opening in downtown Raleigh in late summer.
Along with the Carrboro location, the co-op has stores in Chapel Hill’s Southern Village and in Hillsborough. The new Raleigh store will be the first Weaver Street market location outside of Orange County.
The building is currently under construction. It includes 18 stories of office space, two six-story residential towers, a parking deck and a space for street-level retail, which will house the new market.
“We are thrilled to bring the co-op concept to downtown Raleigh,” Ruffin Slater, the founder and General Manager of Weaver Street Market, told The News & Observer in December 2017.
Slater founded Weaver Street market, which has 20,000 co-op owners and 200 worker-owners, in 1988. He has been the General Manager of all the co-op stores since the first store’s original opening. The employees are paid more than Orange County’s living wage, Weaver Street Market informed The News & Observer.
The new market will take up about 12,600 square feet on the ground floor of the building, close to the size of the Carrboro store. A balcony, which will offer seating for customers, will look down on Hargett Street, where customers have the option to eat.
“I think that the market will be very popular because of the location. Many people walk in the streets and will definitely be checking the place out,” senior Desly Garcia said.
At the Weaver Street Raleigh store, fresh produce from local growers and other groceries will be sold. When opened, the store will take 60 employees to begin with. Positions will be offered to current employees in the spring.
