The departure of New Seasons Market CEO Wendy Collie, the closure of one California store and cessation of plans to open three more will not affect the company’s plans for opening Ballard and Central District locations in Seattle later this year.

New Seasons announced Collie’s exit and its “strategic shift in business direction” in a Feb. 6 news release.

That includes plans to close a New Seasons Market in Sunnyvale, California, and scrap plans for new California stores in San Francisco, Carmel and Emeryville, using those allocated investments “to support core store growth, enhancements and innovation.” The company will use its sister company, New Leaf Community Markets, to grow its California footprint, according to the news release.

“In support of this strategic shift, we will be implementing a flatter, more team-based executive leadership structure, led by co-presidents,” Collie said in the release.

Chief People Officer Kristi McFarland and CFO Forrest Hoffmaster have assumed those co-presidents positions.

My Ballard reports the sign is up at 907 NW Ballard Way, and New Seasons still plans to open there this spring.

Lake Union Partners principal Patrick Foley tells CHT that New Seasons is proceeding as planned with an 18,000-square-foot store inside LUP’s East Union development at 23rd Avenue and East Union Street. The 144-unit mixed-use development is slated for completion by late May or early June.

Foley tells CHT the company plans to hold hiring events for the store inside East Union this summer in order to fill the 100-plus positions to be created at the Central District store.

Central District residents came out to a meeting about the development in late October to voice opposition to having New Seasons Market be the anchor grocery tenant, due to it being a non-union company that doesn’t treat employees as well as unionized stores in the region.

Karinda Harris, the new community manager for New Seasons in Seattle — previously external affairs liaison in former mayor Ed Murray’s office — told community members that New Seasons Market has a minimum starting wage of $15 an hour, has a profit-sharing plan, provides a store discount and has better benefits than Safeway or QFC, though those grocers do not make that information public.

CHT has put in a request to New Seasons Market for more information about its continuing plans in the Central District, including whether there may be any adjustments to employee compensation to allay neighborhood concerns.

The Good Jobs Coalition, which is a CHT advertiser, has created a letter to LUP for people to sign that opposes New Seasons Market coming into the neighborhood. The Good Jobs Coalition claims the store is too expensive for residents, will drive up neighborhood rents and home prices, treats workers unfairly and will profit “anti-LGBTQ, anti-worker investor, the Murdock Trust.”

Endeavour Capital is the majority owner of New Seasons, and the Murdock Charitable Trust invests in a fund that Endeavour uses to fund the market. Harris made this clarification in late October, before announcing that New Seasons could be open to a community benefits agreement — a contract between community groups and a developer committing to certain amenities or standards.

Good Jobs and the Washington Community Action Network will host a meeting regarding opposition to the Central District New Seasons Market 7-8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 22, at CASA Latina, 317 17th Ave. S.