WinCo expects to open first Seattle location despite legal fight over environmental impacts

WinCo Foods’ plans to open its first Seattle location remain underway after a legal challenge stalled the project.

The Idaho-based discount grocery store previously submitted new permit filings for a new location at 13550 Aurora Avenue N in North Seattle, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

A WinCo spokesperson confirmed that the project remains in motion and anticipates that the store will hold its grand opening within a year.

“We’ve put out the word, seen what people think, and we’ve done it many times in [Seattle],” the spokesperson told The Puget Sound Business Journal. “The shoppers there seem to be really hungry for WinCo, and we’re really hungry to give it to them.”

Seattle space has been vacant since Sam’s Club closed in 2018, but a coalition has fought the project

The location, a roughly 145,000-square-foot space, has been vacant since Sam’s Club closed down in 2018. The plans for WinCo to fill the void were initially filed in 2024, though a coalition called Lake Washington Working Families (LWWF) has lobbied against it.

WinCo’s plans include a full-scale remodel of the building, estimating the project to cost roughly $15 million, according to the filing.

The coalition complained about the new project’s possible impacts on local water and air quality, traffic, and negative impacts on the neighborhood such as noise, lighting, and odors.

A hearing examiner previously overturned a determination by the city Department of Construction and Inspections earlier this year that decided the project could move forward without a complete environmental impact statement, according to The Puget Sound Business Journal.

WinCo ultimately appealed the decision in King County Superior Court in May, though the case was dismissed without trial.

A lawyer representing LWWF, Karl Anuta, told The Puget Sound Business Journal that the coalition is aware of the grocer’s latest permit filings, but they haven’t been reviewed. Anuta said that LWWF won’t know what position it will take until it reviews the plans.

WinCo currently has roughly a dozen other locations across the Puget Sound region, including multiple stores in Federal Way and Renton.

“We take as much into account as we possibly can, certainly regarding our neighbors, to mitigate any potential noise, any potential disruption, any potential traffic buildup,” the WinCo spokesperson told The Puget Sound Business Journal. “We want to make it as amenable as possible to all parties without discomforting anybody at all.”

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