The North-end QFC has been named the 2008 Mercer Island Business of the Year. The Chamber of Commerce announced the news last Thursday at its monthly membership luncheon.

“Each year, [QFC] welcomes Mercer Island Rotary bell ringers for the Salvation Army. It has participated in Summer Celebration … has been a founding member of Third Thursday Art Walk … has worked with the Arts Council planting two flower pots for the “Color MI” downtown beautification project … every October they hold an in-store carnival for the community,” said Chamber board member Emmett Maloof.

Maloof also mentioned QFC’s patience with customers who park in the grocery store’s lot and cross streets to shop at other retail sites, describing this as a “contribution” to Town Center vitality. The Chamber applauded QFC for hosting nonprofit car washes during the summer, organizing food drives — which resulted in over $20,000 in donations last year — and for the store’s plans to introduce a compostable waste program.

“Last but not least, remember the Hanukkah windstorm — no power on the Island? There was QFC grilling the inventory of their meat department and feeding Island residents who had stopped by,” Maloof said, referring to the December 2006 windstorm.

North-end QFC manager, Ted Saalfeld, said that he was honored by the award.

QFC, established in 1994, is the fourth Island merchant to be named Business of the Year. The purpose of the award is “to recognize a Mercer Island business that has made a significant impact of Mercer Island’s economic vitality and brought value and benefit to the community.”