Sip and shop

We previously told you that the Fred Meyer store in Spokane Valley would be offering growler fills as part of a major renovation. And now you’ll be able to drink beer there, too.

The store at Sprague and Sullivan will feature Freddy’s first full-scale Cork & Tap wine and beer bar. Parent company Kroger pioneered the concept this summer at three Houston, Texas stores, while Kroger-owned QFC opened one in Bellevue (pictured above).

There’s a smaller version seating a handful of people at the Fred Meyer Stadium store in Portland, says Melinda Merrill, community affairs manager for the Portland-based chain. “It turned out to be so popular, it was voted one of best places to go before a Portland Timbers (soccer) game,” she says.

The Valley Cork & Tap will serve 10 beers and 16 wines with a local/regional focus, Merrill says. There will be a limited food menu featuring flatbread pizzas, and two TVs.

Like the ones in Houston and Bellevue, it will close relatively early – operating daily from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. – and have a two-drink limit per person.

“We’re not trying to be a bar,” says Merrill. “It’s just another place you can stop by on your way home from work to meet friends, and pick up some groceries. Or if one person is going shopping, the other person can sit and have a beer.”

It’s the sort of thing supermarkets need to do these days to remain competitive, she adds: “Supermarkets are trying to give you more reasons to come in. There are so many online and delivery options, if you want to be relevant to the customer, this is the kind of thing you have to offer them.”

The entire space formerly devoted to electronics at the Valley store is being turned into a beer, wine and spirits section, with a back wall full of local, regional and other craft beers. The grand reopening is scheduled for Oct. 26, though the Cork & Tap may launch earlier.

The other Fred Meyer stores in Spokane on North Division and South Thor, which are undergoing less extensive renovations, also will be getting growler stations (but no Cork & Tap). The Coeur d’Alene store started offering growler fills last October.

The Spokane/Coeur d’Alene stores are being used as a test market for a new approach featuring more food items – up to 2,000 per store – and less general merchandise.