New Seasons Market

There’s a lot to admire about the sustainable business practices at New Seasons Market. From progressive labor policies, to local sourcing, to green building design, to community giving– New Seasons makes so many contributions to the Portland area, it's hard to focus on just a few.

Progressive workplace policies
Treating staff members fairly is something New Seasons has long been known for in the Portland community. The minimum wage at the market is $10 an hour, compared to the state’s minimum wage of $8.40 an hour (a rate which won’t increase any time soon).  And New Seasons extends health benefits to every staff member and their domestic partners and dependents – whether they work full time or only one shift a week.

Staff members also benefit from a 20% store discount and a 20% profit share which is distributed evenly regardless of one's position. And to top off all that giving, New Seasons also gives 10% of the company’s after-tax profits back to the community.  

Catering to the neighborhood
With over nine store locations in 2009 (and two more planned for 2010), New Seasons caters to local tastes with as many locally-sourced goods as possible. The company also works hard to become actively involved in each neighborhood it locates in, blending in with the local culture, supporting local community movements, and hiring staff from the surrounding neighborhood.

Before opening a new store, New Seasons always makes it a point to consult with the local neighborhood association first. When one of these groups wasn’t sure they wanted a New Seasons Market recently (they thought it would be unaffordable), the company did a comparison shop to check in on the price of it’s goods vs. other well-known grocery chains in Portland. As it turns out, New Seasons was cheaper for the average basket of stuff which included broccoli, chicken, milk, eggs, and bread.

In addition to the natural and organic products lining New Seasons’ shelves, you’ll also find goods like Frosted Flakes and Coca Cola, along with a range of other products that appeal to people who live in the neighborhood. “We’re trying to be a one-stop shop” said Sedlar, “as opposed to being the food police. That said, we do favor local foods a lot. In fact about a third of our 30,000 products are local or come from our regional food shed, which we define as Oregon, Washington, and Northern California.”

When it comes to building new stores, many of New Seasons’ locations are a result of inquiries from local residents. Sometimes the new store ventures present risks and it’s not easy to finance them. In the case of the NE Portland store for example, banks turned New Seasons down for funding based on the low-income demographics of the neighborhood. Convinced they needed to push forward, New Seasons found “creative" ways to fund the build-out, by-passing the banks altogether. Two weeks after opening the new store, it had become New Season’s highest grossing store in Portland -- much to the delight of staff.

Supporting our regional food shed
One of New Seasons' top goals is to promote local agricultural production by sourcing from fishers, farmers, ranchers and suppliers in Portland’s “regional food shed” which by New Season's standards includes Oregon, Washington, and Northern California.  According to Sedlar, there are lots of reasons why the grocery chain does this. Transporting goods from local sources requires less energy and means that fewer fossil fuels get used. Locally-based farms tend to be smaller, family-run operations which generally use fewer chemical fertilizers. But most importantly, sourcing from the regional food shed keeps our local farm lands in production, which is something New Seasons is passionate about. “Once that concrete is poured, or a strip mall goes in, it’s almost impossible to return to agricultural production” said Sedlar.  “And food just tastes better when it doesn’t have to travel as far. And you know, it’s just the right thing to do.”