Fresh Abundance opens new store on Division

There’s a fresh new face among the Division Street storefronts.

Fresh Abundance, best known for delivering boxes of local, organic produce to area doorsteps, recently opened its third store.

Owner BrightSpirit Hendrix says they hoped to open the location, which is across North Division Street from Mountain Gear, in March. But water line woes and a late spring stalled plans. The building was plumbed with a small waterline for the house originally on that spot in the 1950s, and it had to be replaced.

Fresh Abundance workers are cleaning and preparing fruits and vegetables for home delivery and eventually will serve deli foods there. The 3,000-square-foot store stocks all of the food in the Fresh Abundance inventory, including bulk organic foods, local meats, household products, gluten-free foods and all of the organic produce that store owners gather each week.

The store, at 2015 N. Division St., is open daily from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

“People don’t have to be a member to come here and shop,” says Hendrix. “You do have to be a member to get the free delivery.”

To become a member, there is a $15 registration fee and annual dues of $35.

Hendrix is on the road three days a week picking up produce, meat, milk and cheese from the 60-plus farms who work with Fresh Abundance. They range from 1/2-acre plots in Spokane Valley, where a woman is growing raspberries, to large 300-acre farms. She doesn’t drive farther than 200 miles for local produce.

There are now three brick-and-mortar Fresh Abundance locations, including 1001 E. 25th Ave., behind Wilson Elementary, and 3324 S. Best Road in Spokane Valley.

The money raised by the stores is used to fund the nonprofit PEACH Safe Food, started eight years ago, which aims to encourage more local food production. Hendrix says the next goal is to train farm apprentices and connect them to land loaned to Fresh Abundance for farming.

The new Division Street store is just the beginning for that location. Hendrix says they have 17,000 square feet of space there, and hope to transform it into something of a sustainability center. They’ll start by hosting a sustainability fair there Sept. 13.

They’re still recruiting farmers, artists, crafters and others for the fair.

For more information about Fresh Abundance go to www.freshabundance.com or call Hendrix at (509) 435-5210.