Located in west Boise storefront that was once a gas station and then a succulent store, this food retailer is offshoot of their mothership store located in Northern Idaho (CDA). Two sentences in their marketing mix suggest their story. On their window is this: "No fake food allowed." On their take way bag is this: "Any easier and we'd chew it for you." Ta dum.
WHAT IT IS: Being unsure how to describe the business in a Yelp summary, I sat on my fingers for a while. Then I read that they consider themselves a "farm fresh convenience store" and I thought that is perfect. There's the description.
WHAT'S IN A NAME: The name is a composite of color and powerful, copow. The owners' philosophy healthy food seems to be, in part, that eating the rainbow is a good thing. That's my lane too.
WHY I'M A FAN: Three visits in and it makes me want to sing, apologies to Etta James, "At last, my convenience eats have come along..." This because I am one of "those" who wants to know where the food I'm going to eat comes from and what is in it (you know that comedy bit in Portlandia, "Tell me about the chicken", yep, that's me) so I almost never buy convenience meals. This place is the sweet spot because during my first visit in when I asked about the source for the chicken in one of the first entrees I bought (apricot balsamic glazed chicken with spaghetti squash and oven roasted tomatoes ), the nice woman helping me could tell me about their regenerist practices, pasture raised growers for chicken and beef and answer all of my other ingredients questions. (P.S. If you don't know the Portlandia bit, here it is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ErRHJlE4PGI )
WHAT THEY HAVE: Refrigerated entrees and snack items ready to take away to heat, a curated selection of grocery package good items from top end vendors (like outstanding pickled veg from Pacific Pickle Works in Santa Barbara and POPPED brand artisan popcorn out of Tucson), some frozen grocery foods, and also a coffee bar. The take away items are made at their main facility in Northern Idaho and the Boise store's selection is restocked every Friday.
ACCESSIBILITY: A usable ramp up to get in the door. One spot of ADA compliant parking across the parking lot. Inside has ample clear floor space between aisles. I didn't check the loo. The coffee counter is not ADA compliant as it is all high seating. ADA is a 36 year old civil rights law and requires that IF you are offering seating for customers then some of it must be at accessible height for equal access.
DELIVERY?: I think delivery of the meals is being considered. Since it is a considerable drive from my front door to theirs, if they delivered meals, I would buy more often.
THIS N THAT:
* On Saturdays there are in-store specials that change every week. For example, $2 off any purchase.
*If you're here then you're not far from great local bakery Glutonia and it is so worth stopping there for bread or pastries. In everything being connected to everything else, it was Glutonia as our destination that had us drive by copow to discover it. https://www.yelp.com/biz/glutonia-boise?osq=Glutonia read more