In Birchwood, local produce, eggs and meat come mostly from a farm truck that parks Sundays at the corner of Northwest and Birchwood avenues. In 2024 the legal barrier that kept a grocery store out of the Birchwood shopping center was removed. Since then, local news has reported no grocer moving in. The Twin Sisters Mobile Market fills the gap from June to late October. Its 2026 season ends October 25, and today, October 4, is one of its last four Sundays.
The market sets up from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Northwest Pawn and Liberty Tax parking lot at 1703 Birchwood Ave. The Birchwood stop opened for the year on June 7. These are the Sundays left:
| Sunday | Hours | Location |
|---|---|---|
| October 4 | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. | 1703 Birchwood Ave., NW Pawn/Liberty Tax lot |
| October 11 | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. | 1703 Birchwood Ave., NW Pawn/Liberty Tax lot |
| October 18 | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. | 1703 Birchwood Ave., NW Pawn/Liberty Tax lot |
| October 25 | 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. | Last market day of the 2026 season |
Why a farm truck parks at this corner
The Cascadia Daily News calls Twin Sisters Whatcom County's only mobile market. It runs four stops. Three are in small communities out the Mount Baker Highway and in Everson. The fourth is here in Bellingham. The Bellingham Herald, quoting the nonprofit's own release, describes all four as communities with "limited local access to groceries and fresh food." A neighborhood inside city limits lands on that list because of a property agreement written decades ago. Washington's Attorney General laid out the history in a June 2024 announcement:
- 1982: The owners of the Birchwood shopping center agreed that only Albertsons' parcel could sell groceries.
- 2016: Albertsons closed its Birchwood store after buying a nearby Haggen.
- 2018: Albertsons sold the building with a restriction capping how much food could be sold there. A separate agreement stopped the buyer from changing the 1982 terms to allow a grocery anywhere else in the center.
- 2021: The building sold again, and the restrictions came with it.
- 2024: After an antitrust investigation by the Attorney General's office, Albertsons dropped the restrictions and paid $25,000 toward the cost of the investigation.
Without that settlement, the restrictions would have kept a grocery store out of the whole development through 2038. The City of Bellingham has since banned this kind of grocery restriction. Because the ban couldn't be applied retroactively, Birchwood's restriction stayed in place until Albertsons removed it.
"Access to fresh groceries is essential for every neighborhood." Then-Attorney General Bob Ferguson, June 25, 2024
The restriction no longer applies. The Sunday truck at the corner is still the closest thing Birchwood has to a produce section.
What the truck carries, and how you can pay this year
The market buys from small and family-scale farms in Whatcom County. Its release lists fresh produce, pasture-raised meat and eggs, honey and ferments. It doesn't try to stock everything a supermarket would. The season is built around what local farms are harvesting, which makes late October one of the better weeks to buy fall produce for storage.
The Herald reported these accepted forms of payment:
- Cash
- Credit cards
- EBT
- WCCOA
- Nooksack Fresh voucher cards, a program for participating Nooksack Tribal members that every Twin Sisters stop accepts
For 2026, Twin Sisters also planned to add two federal benefits that mobile markets couldn't take before: WIC, which serves mothers and young children, and the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program. In May, Twin Sisters said it expected to start accepting both by mid-June.
That change began with a Twin Sisters staffer. In 2025, Cascadia Daily News profiled Cat Sieh, the market's special projects director. She pushed for a state bill that would let mobile markets accept WIC and senior farmers market benefits. State Sen. Sharon Shewmake sponsored it. The bill passed that spring, and the paper reported it would take effect in 2026. If you have WIC or senior market benefits, ask at the truck whether it is taking them. The coverage we found reports the plan but doesn't confirm when it started.
Maia Binhammer, the market's executive director, told Cascadia Daily News that the nonprofit keeps finding "more and more communities that could be served by a mobile market model such as ours." She added that each new stop depends on finding partners in that community.
The building across the intersection
The former Albertsons building stands across the intersection from the market's lot. Its most recent publicly reported tenant was Big Lots at 1650 Birchwood Ave. In July 2024, Cascadia Daily News reported that the store had announced it would close but had no final closing date. Three days later, My Bellingham Now reported that the store manager expected it to stay open another eight to 12 weeks. The same Cascadia story identified the property owner as Value Investment Group, based in British Columbia. It also quoted Tina McKim, an organizer with Birchwood Food Desert Fighters, who hoped an affordable, accessible grocer would take the space.
We found no 2025 or 2026 reporting on a grocery tenant for that building, whether a signed lease, a permit or an opening date. The legal barrier is gone, but nobody has publicly announced a grocer. Until someone does, the truck at 1703 Birchwood Ave. and the volunteer programs described below are what Birchwood has.
What keeps running after October 25
When the truck leaves for the season, fresh food in Birchwood mostly comes through Birchwood Food Desert Fighters. The group runs a Saturday Share Spot at 3233 Northwest Ave., listed for 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. The Community Food Co-op's 2026 community partner page says the group hands out locally grown food there every week. It also keeps Little Free Pantry boxes stocked around the neighborhood.
Some of that food comes from City Sprouts Farm, which lists weekly produce donations to Birchwood Food Desert Fighters and to Sea Mar Community Health Centers. The Share Spot is a volunteer distribution, not a store. Its offerings depend on what growers and donors bring each week.
We couldn't confirm whether the Share Spot keeps the same hours through winter. City Sprouts' food-access page notes that hours and locations can change and asks people to check before going. Check before your first Saturday in November.
If you want to stock up before the season ends, here's a practical plan. Go to the market on October 18 or 25 and buy the fall produce that keeps for weeks. Note the Saturday Share Spot hours for the winter. If you have WIC or senior market benefits, ask at the truck about using them before October 25. For reference, the Birchwood stop's 2026 season opened on June 7.
At Julian & Company, we follow what happens on Birchwood's corners, from the Sunday market lot to the building across the street, because those changes shape what it's like to live here. If you own in Birchwood and want to know how neighborhood changes like these could affect your home's value, ask us for a free home valuation and start the conversation.
This article is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional about your situation.
