Totally unsurprising to anyone who visited the store the last year or so, with all its empty shelves.

But still sad. After Madison Market moved to its current location, Rainbow Grocery had the most human feel of any socially conscious grocery store in Seattle I can think of. With it and Red and Black books gone, the hippie feel of this once very hippie neighborhood is pretty close to gone. But the shift from hippie to hipster isn't so terrible. And at least Madison Market is still going strong.

Aww, that's so sad. I used to go there a lot as a kid. Why, I haven't been there since, um, Trader Joe's opened...

Funny: when I lived in 15th I always felt like a sell-out for shopping at Rainbow because it was was an overpriced fake-coop. Like, if the food's going to cost that much, should it be a co-op?

Now I guess I should have been feeling all good about it because the "real" co-op down the street is somehow too corporate? God, it's so hard to buy guilt-free food these days.

I used to shop at Rainbow when I was a kid and it was on 19th, down the street from Stevens. It was just about the last hippie business left over from my childhood.

Durnit.

Wasn't saying Madison Market is corporate. Just that I liked Rainbow's space better.

Thanks for the link, Dan. Wish it were better news (Blog Saves Hippie Grocery) Oh well. Can't feel too sorry for our vegetable-lacking selves -- there are a few more organic grocery workers walking the street tonight looking for jobs that truly deserve pity. If you want to blame something for Rainbow's demise, leave your votes here

What is wrong with you people? Eat a damn cow once in a while and quit weeping over someone's obsolete business practices. And if ONE MORE PERSON USES THE WORD "HIPSTER," EVER, that person also will be out of business.

Back when 15th was the quiet little boho-burg, I guess they were impossible to live next to. A good friend of mine had the owner on speed-dial because they'd empty their bottle recycling at 4:00am so he could call him every morning he was woken up by the sound of bottles crashing. Ironically, QFC never had this problem, so he'd call and stick the phone out the window and kept asking him find a better dumping time. Never found one apparently. Ahh - the irony of noise control now...

You're a weird one, Garrett.

what they need to do, is kick that stupid QFC across the street out (that really is a stupid stupid QFC) and move a co-op into there (not rainbow per se, I was always disappointed with their selection and lack of obvious co-op things- like a fan-fucking-tastic deli, bakery and meat section).

fuck it, they never listen to the good ideas. that stupid QFC will linger forever.

Can PCC open there?

The old Rainbow Grocery space? That's where Linda Derschang should open a bar.