Market of Choice is a supermarket

Supermarket

A supermarket, a form of grocery store, is a self-service store offering a wide variety of food and household merchandise, organized into departments...

 chain based in Eugene, Oregon

Eugene, Oregon

Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...

, United States. The store carries conventional groceries, as well as natural and organic

Organic food

Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as synthetic pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.For the...

 products.

History

The Market of Choice stores are owned by Market of Choice, Inc. The company began in 1979 with a single store owned by Richard Wright, Sr. in Cottage Grove, Oregon

Cottage Grove, Oregon

Cottage Grove is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. It received its name from its first postmaster, G. C. Pierce, in September 1861. Pierce's home at the time was in an oak grove. The population was 9,686 at the 2010 census.-History:...

. As of 2011, Market of Choice has four stores in Eugene

Eugene, Oregon

Eugene is the second largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon and the seat of Lane County. It is located at the south end of the Willamette Valley, at the confluence of the McKenzie and Willamette rivers, about east of the Oregon Coast.As of the 2010 U.S...

, and one each in Ashland

Ashland, Oregon

Ashland is a city in Jackson County, Oregon, United States, near Interstate 5 and the California border, and located in the south end of the Rogue Valley. It was named after Ashland County, Ohio, point of origin of Abel Helman and other founders, and secondarily for Ashland, Kentucky, where other...

, Portland

Portland, Oregon

Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...

, West Linn

West Linn, Oregon

West Linn is a city in Clackamas County, Oregon, United States. Now a prosperous southern suburb of Portland, West Linn has a history of early development, prompted by the opportunity to harvest energy from nearby Willamette Falls. It was named after Senator Dr. Lewis Fields Linn of Ste...

 and Corvallis

Corvallis, Oregon

Corvallis is a city located in central western Oregon, United States. It is the county seat of Benton County and the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 54,462....

. The company is now run by the founder's son Rick Wright. Rick Wright reorganized his father's company, which included Price Chopper and Thriftway stores, and created Market of Choice. As part of their rebranding

Rebranding

Rebranding is the creation of a new name, term, symbol, design, or a combination of them for an established brand with the intention of developing a differentiated position in the mind of stakeholders and competitors....

, Price Chopper stores transitioned to the name PC Market and finally to Market of Choice.

Local recognition

Market of Choice stores were said to have the best salad bars in Lane County

Lane County

Lane County is the name of two counties in the United States:* Lane County, Kansas* Lane County, Oregon...

, in The Register-Guard

The Register-Guard

The Register-Guard is a daily newspaper published in Eugene, Oregon, United States. It was formed in a 1930 merger of two Eugene papers, the Eugene Daily Guard and the Morning Register. The paper serves the Eugene-Springfield area, as well as the Oregon Coast, Umpqua River Valley, and surrounding...

's Readers' Choice awards in 2010. The previous year, it won first place as Lane County's best grocery store as well as second place as its best store for natural food.

Green energy

Market of Choice has reduced their energy consumption by about 15-20% using a variety of means, including employee training, equipment maintenance, and replacing outdated refrigeration with more energy efficient equipment. The Willamette Street location in Eugene produces solar energy, with a 30.8 kilowatt photovoltaic

Photovoltaics

Photovoltaics is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic power generation employs solar panels composed of a number of solar cells containing a photovoltaic material...

 (PV) system, which is one of the largest such systems in the city. This store also composts its organic waste onsite, and the company looks for earth-friendly

Environmentally friendly

Environmentally friendly are terms used to refer to goods and services, laws, guidelines and policies claimed to inflict minimal or no harm on the environment....

 packaging material for its goods.

In September 2008, Market of Choice removed the use of plastic shopping bag

Plastic shopping bag

Plastic shopping bags, carrier bags or plastic grocery bags are a type of shopping bag made from various kinds of plastic, and are common worldwide. These bags are sometimes called single-use bags, referring to carrying items from a store to a home...

s from their stores.