Tacoma lost a major grocery store. This bill would make it harder to close them
When a Fred Meyer store shuttered in Tacoma’s South End last year, it didn’t sit well with state Sen. Steve Conway. In his view, the grocery company gave too-short notice, allowing no opportunity for the community in that area — which had been designated as a food desert — to work toward solutions.
It’s why the South Tacoma Democrat filed legislation this session seeking to protect residents from sudden grocery-store closures.
Senate Bill 6147, the Grocery Protection Act, received a public hearing Tuesday in the Senate Labor & Commerce Committee.
Under current state law, employers typically must provide at least 60 days notice of planned closure to affected workers, certain agencies and the local chief elected official, according to the bill report.
Grocery establishments under Conway’s bill would be required to give at least six months’ advance notice before permanently locking their doors in food deserts or low-income areas. Written notice would need to be provided to customers and the public, as well as local officials and the state attorney general’s office.
Conway, who serves as vice chair on the Senate committee, told McClatchy in a Tuesday call that he was a longtime customer of the South End Fred Meyer.
“It’s really the center of my community in many different ways: first for food, second for (prescription) drugs, and third, for just being a place where people gather and see each other,” he said.
SB 6147 would require “good faith engagement” from establishments, meaning that they must work with local officials to identify other pathways that would allow for the continued availability of grocery services and products at the affected location, according to the bill report. That condition could be met by attending a community meeting and engaging with a collective bargaining group.
The attorney general would be authorized to seek injunctive and monetary relief, such as civil penalties, for closure-notice violations.
Conway told the committee Tuesday that corporate grocers should have to notify the community “so that we can all sit down and see if there’s a way we can keep these stores open.”
Some grocer-industry groups testified against Conway’s bill Tuesday, including the Washington Food Industry Association (WFIA) and the Northwest Grocery Retail Association. Representatives pointed to worries about the possibilities of civil suits or injunctions, potential increases in regulatory burdens and what they viewed as a lack of clarity on the definition of “good faith negotiations.” They also argued that the proposed rules would hurt smaller independent grocers.
“If a store is making the tough decision to close, they’ve already explored every feasible route to stay open,” Katie Beeson with WFIA said at Tuesday’s hearing.
McClatchy sought comment from Kroger, Fred Meyer’s parent company, and Albertsons, which operates Safeway, but did not receive a reply by publication time.
Andrea Haug, chair of Tacoma’s South End Neighborhood Council, said in a Monday call that Conway’s efforts are appreciated.
The community has reeled from last September’s Fred Meyer closure, she said, speaking on her own behalf. The departure of the long-standing store in a neighborhood fighting for resources has left a gap in food access, she added.
Haug said she’s heard from people in the community who are now shopping less because of less-convenient access, “which means people are eating less.”
“For (the) future, in other areas that might still have their grocery stores, I think this is fantastic,” she said of Conway’s bill.
Although Haug described the proposal as a solid start, she said that there are more robust actions she’d like to see taken. For example, she cited questions about whether the legislation could make a distinction for large-format properties given their outsized effect on the surrounding community.
Asked at Tuesday’s hearing by Republican Sen. Curtis King why the South End store closed, Conway cited issues of crime and profitability. He told McClatchy that he learned of this reasoning during a call with a Kroger official.
The News Tribune reported in September that although there were concerns about safety, corporate representatives did not publicly blame crime for the Tacoma closure. Instead they cast it as “part of a larger company-wide decision to run more efficiently and ensure the long-term health of our business.”
The UFCW 3000 union — which represents grocery workers across Washington, northern Idaho and northeast Oregon — said in an emailed statement that the six months notice would give time for residents, employees and local officials to meet and investigate alternatives. Communications director Rich Smith explained that that could include “exploring ways to keep the store open, finding a new operator, supporting a cooperative model, or preventing the site from going dark altogether.”
Michael Hines with UFCW Local 367, representing grocery workers from six South Sound counties, told lawmakers Tuesday that union members had met with employers for years seeking to resolve safety concerns at Fred Meyer’s South End location. He said that the company was unwilling to act to better protect customers and employees.
Tacoma Deputy Mayor Joe Bushnell said at Tuesday’s hearing that the South End Fred Meyer closure has had wide-reaching effects, including to vulnerable residents like people with disabilities and senior citizens.
“This neighborhood grocery store had all the essentials they needed for food, for household items, and now they have to change their bus route, they have to ask family members for rides to different locations that are completely outside of their area,” Bushnell said.
This story was originally published January 27, 2026 at 2:17 PM.
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