Chuck’s Hop Shop CD coming to 20th and Union

by Dikla Tuchman

Inside the original Chuck's (Images: Dikla Tuchman for CHS)

Inside the original Chuck’s (Images: Dikla Tuchman for CHS)

North Seattleites — who have long enjoyed the convenience of a small corner store which also provides over 30 craft beer taps, reasonably priced growler fills to-go, and a wide selection of nearly 1,000 craft beer bottles (with an emphasis on local beer) — will now be sharing the wealth with Capitol Hill and the Central District.

Last week, Chuck Shin, owner of the above described Chuck’s Hop Shop — aka, Chuck’s 85th Street Market, signed a 10-year lease to open another venture at 20th and Union, across the street from Katy’s Corner Café and replacing the empty Copymaster building at the corner.

While the new construction will not begin until April of this year, Shin anticipates a quick buildout and hopes to open Chuck’s Hop Shop CD to the neighborhood by May 2013.IMG_3215Boasting the slogan “the best bar that isn’t really a bar,” Shin anticipates success for the new location of his winning concept, which has garnered popularity and success in the Crown Hill/Greenwood neighborhood over the last three years.

When starting out with Chuck’s on 85th, Shin had a fairly modest goal in mind: Build a place where he and his family would want to hang out. “I have a three-year-old, a seven-year-old and a dog. When we try to go somewhere, my options are really non-existent! Usually we come here (to the shop) on my day off so that the kids can have ice cream and they’re happy to leave us alone for a half an hour so that we can sit down, have a beer and talk. It’s been a very nice oasis for us, too.” With his own needs and desires in mind for a family-friendly beer bar, Chuck’s Hop Shop turned out to be just what the neighborhood wanted.

CHS sat down with Shin at his current Greenwood store and chatted with him about his plans for the upcoming space.

“I think we’re expecting something like here. We’re going to be open to dogs and families – that’s our thing,” Shin said. “One of the reasons we decided to open up [this new shop] was when I was spending some time looking around, I saw a lot of strollers [in the area]. On Broadway, there’s no place to go with kids. For this area it works really well to have a place where you can bring kids. That’s why we’ve decided to open up there. I feel like it’s kind of a similar neighborhood.”

“A lot of people in Ballard can’t afford the house they want, so they’re moving out this way. Same goes for Capitol Hill – people who have a family and can’t afford the house they want there move to the CD. I definitely see that migration,” said Shin.

Chuck's future CD home

Chuck’s future CD home

Pulling up on 85th

Pulling up on 85th

Like the positioning of the 85th Street store, Shin expects to pull from several surrounding residential neighborhoods. “We’re hoping that we can attract people from Beacon Hill, Madrona, Capitol Hill, etc,” he said.
In the new space, Chuck’s will actually have a larger parking lot compared to the tiny, three-space parking lot in front of his 85th Street store. “We have eight parking spots, and we’ll have space for rotating food trucks every day. We’re also hoping to build a bit of an outdoor seating area,” Shin said.

As for its offerings, Shin has a similar plan for the store on E Union. “We’ll have ice cream for kids and we’re planning fifty taps.”. This is a marked difference from Chuck’s on 85th as the tap count grew fairly organically – starting with three and growing to a now impressive 38 taps. And not to worry; the selection of bottled craft beers in the new space will be just as large, if not larger.

The new location is a 3,100-square-foot stand-alone space, about 700-square feet larger than the Greenwood location. “We’re hoping to use that extra space to provide more seating areas for people. Here we have only one bathroom; there we’ll have three bathrooms,” Shin said.

Chuck’s will also continue to provide a similar schedule of events at the new shop: Tastings, trivia nights, and, hopefully, a weekly Euchre night (a big hit with the Midwestern Seattelites up at the 85th Street shop). Shin also plans on hooking up with some local Capitol Hill and Central District nonprofits to hold regular fundraising events which he’s had success with in Greenwood.

“We’re basically trying to copy whatever we’ve been doing here and see if it works similarly in the new location. We’re hoping to see a lot of kids come up,” says Shin. The plan continues to be an unassuming, laid-back locale that is in no way focused on décor or pretentiousness, but rather on quality beer and a quality hang-out for families and neighbors. “We’re going for homey and comfortable,” he said.

As for grub, Shin is hoping to host two food trucks a day – a lunch truck and a dinner truck – on a regular rotation.

Hours will likely be daily 10 AM to midnight, with slightly shorter hours on Sunday from 11 AM to 11 PM.
“We take possession of the space April 1, we hope to open by the end of May,” says Shin. He plans to start off slowly with a quiet, soft opening at first and then six months later, a larger, grand opening for the neighborhood. “We need to figure out the customer base before we do anything too crazy,” he said.

62 thoughts on “Chuck’s Hop Shop CD coming to 20th and Union

  1. This will be a phenomenal addition to the neighborhood, and close enough to Capitol Hill that the anarchists might not burn it down. Here’s to great beer!

  2. Great news! My husband and I (and our kids and dog) are ecstatic! Welcome, Chuck, to the neighborhood!

  3. Exxxxxcellent. As a homebrewer (i.e. beer-lover) and a dad, I’m ecstatic to have a place like this coming to the neighborhood. Maybe there’s some potential for collaboration with the CDBC, your friendly neighborhood homebrewing club.

    • CDBC – as in central district hombrew club? (i’m guessin). Just moved to the CD last year and am a homebrewer too. I am stoke to have chuck’s south open, because chuck’s north is awesome

  4. Very, very, very excited by this news! We welcome them with open arms. And did I mention, I’m excited by this news?

  5. I know! I’m pretty stoked about this whole thing myself (hence the article). Now to just see what else happens with the 23rd – 20th and Union changes.

  6. Very excited at this news!
    Best of luck to this new venture in our neighborhood. Our growing family will do what we can to help support it.

  7. as a beer nut and somebody who has talked about opening a place like this in the CD, i’m thrilled. he brings some good foodtrucks in, too.

      • Good point, Realestate Guy! Your material wealth probably does trump our need to defend culture and community. Good points all around, good points..

      • what´s with all of you? stay blind, if you want. i like beer, but the SPD and the City of Seattle did a thorough job f!#%ing destroying the CD so these nice new shops can move in. don´t act so gd happy. or at least go stand in the MIDDLE of 23rd and Union, open your eyes, face west, and watch all the white people pouring down the hill.

        and i know some of you aren´t white, great, but all your friends are. this is not okay, and in case you haven´t noticed, the people you´ve displaced are going to come back and rob you, mug your kids, and burn your condos down. and what will you do? call the police, i´m sure, the same police who still beat black people on 23rd and Union, still plant drugs on kids in the south end, and still drive around hammered at night.

        are any of you going say anything, do anything, or are you all just gonna cream your pants went the new condos rise on the corner? i don´t understand.

        sorry to rain on your parade and all, but jeez. try not to be so excited about it.

      • I guess I just don’t understand how a small business taking over a dilapidated copy shop is destroying culture. Was this the cornerstone of the 20th & Union area? Did you ever even step foot in that building? They aren’t building apodments, condos or a Whole Foods. In greenwood they changed a porn and drug paraphernalia ridden store into a family location.

    • I guess I’m just trying to understand where you get “only white people enjoy drinking beer” from? What racist stereotype does that come from?

      • I’m just trying to get why you’d even bother to answer somebody that makes a dumb-ass troll statement like that? No good can come from a follow-up.

      • Whatever happened to the “report abuse” button?
        Really CD troll, you need to walk the walk of “culture and community” not just whine about it. Culture is what is alive now, whatever that is, and it changes all the time. Nothing is static, you can’t wish the past back into existence. Live in the present and help shape the changes by creating something other people would be into. Culture and Community is a big tent situation where the more people you invite in and inspire the stronger the culture gets.

      • You can´t just say that and make it true. culture is erased. i like seattle, i love my little house, but it is built on land that was stolen. sure, i could call the wild (and white) settler town that appeared a big tent situation, where the more people who inspired and created stuff the better it was, but it was still a big tent that all but erased the culture of the duwamish. you know, those people who did NOT turn the duwamish river into a toxic mess or cut down all the trees that used to be where Capitol Hill and the CD are now.

        basically, DK, you can´t just say that kind of stuff without sounding like a settler. manifest destiny, blah, blah, blah. i´m sure there will be nice saloons and friendly madams in your pioneer settlment, but you are still a colinizer, a gentrifier, and there is nothing you can do about it.

      • Hi Rachel, I agree that we should honor our elders and respect where we came from and who came before us. But we can’t live in the past and we can’t go back in time. We need to live in the here an now and try to make things better as we go while remembering and respecting all of those who made their lives here. Some of today’s newcomers are tomorrows old cranks bitching about how “those” new people are ruining the neighborhood. “There goes the neighborhood….” The CD was never wholly owned by any one culture and it still isn’t. Personally I hope to never sink to that place where I resent my new neighbors for who I think they might be. We are all slowly becoming old timers and it is up to us to allow the young newcomers to be a part of the world too even if they are “different”.

    • Please just ignore the racist white anarchists punks who troll this site. Maybe we will get lucky and they will catch fire when they try and burn another house down.
      Here’s to good beer and Cider!

      • And ohh rachel why are you not for the Dinosaures that were displaced, bring back T-rex!! We as humans are not worthy!

  8. WELCOME!!!! I’m just giddy. Maybe they can put some Rachaels Ginger beer on tap????

  9. I’m trying to get the statement “the kids can have ice cream and they’re happy to leave us alone for a half an hour so that we can sit down, have a beer and talk.” Is there a kids area or some specific kid entertainment? Kid’s ice cream usually disappears well before an hour and a half.

    • I too look forward to a good business at 20th and E. Union. It has been a long time and this one seems intriguing. It does not have to be family friendly if it brings a little sun to the corner. Still I am having a hard time with the part of the article that seems to describe it as a great place to bring kids. I need a few more facts on how that is part of the mix. It sounds more like a place for their parents to hang out without the kids.

      • Joanna, I recently went to the original Chuck’s with two sets of friends and their babies (8 months and 2 years). There were quite a few kids there ranging from babies to teenagers all there hanging out with their families, eating food from the food truck, and some were playing some of the games set out at the shop. It seemed as though most of the adults were in the back near the taps and most kids were in the front near the ice cream and games. It really was a nice atmosphere. It did not feel like a bar that allows kids but more like a neighborhood hangout with a mix of those with kids and those without (and dogs!).

  10. THIS IS GOING TO BE RAD! Thanks so much for bringing your business to our neighborhood! Can’t wait to eat and drink on 20th and Union! :)

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  12. I think this place sounds great; reminds me of something you would find in NY. And any place that allows dogs gets my business! I look forward to coming by for a beer.

  13. The northern CD border is unofficially being re-designated to Cherry St. Slowly but surely that is what is happening. All you folks down the blocks can keep clamoring about how the CD needs to be this and needs to be that, but the reality is the trickle down (and out) effect aint gonna happen too soon, if at all outside of the Union/Madison range. Much of the CD is and will remain a version similar to what it is and has been. Eyes, buddy, I have to agree with you on your perceived outcome of the neighborhood, if not the methodology.

    • Hey your a bit wrong. There is a great kick ass sports bar called the Wonderbar between 18th and 20th on S. Jackson! And a brew pub comming to 25th and Jackson. Now if we can get the old fire station as a breww pub or food brew pub like the Fremont Brewery or Elysian Fields the containment zone drops lower.

      • YES!!! Spot on. More upscale beer options definitely equals less containment in the zone. Because the more privileged people drinking beer in the neighborhood the better.

        I think there should be brew pubs and sports bars on every block, sort of like Starbucks downtown. And we should always call them either brew pubs or sports bars. Not bars, taverns, lounges or any of that language.

        Lets call the brew pubs “European Brew Pubs” just to be safe. And of course everyone is welcome at the European Brew Pubs. Brew pubs have nothing to do with race. And each time a fancy beer place pops up, we should remember the neighborhood CAN GET BETTER!

  14. Given that Rachel’s posts make very little sense, I understand why we should not respond. I am concerned though that others might take them seriously so I have to address the potentially racist comment “and in case you haven´t noticed, the people you´ve displaced are going to come back and rob you, mug your kids, and burn your condos down.”. As it implies the “black people” you displace will rob you, etc…please understand most black people are not violent criminals. This comment is very unfair and prejudicial and the messenger appears to be retelling the very negative stereotypes the community has struggled for years to overcome with the police and city at large.

    • you know, this gets me really hot and bothered. i never said anything about black people, you did. poor people are displaced, period. people who cannot afford the real estate prices that rise because of gentrification. search komo for instances of mugging in the CD in the past few months. i´m at work. tell me what you find.

      • Ok Rachel. Let’s change “black” to poor (even though this neighborhood is considered one of the center neighborhoods of the African American community by a large number of that said community). How insulting it is that you feel “poor” people are muggers and arsonists and will react violently just cause they may have to move. I had to relocate a lot growing up due to gentrification. But my mother never taught me to steal or destroy just because we were angry. I feel your message is very unfair.

    • The neighborhood is being rapidly gentrified. The thing is… white folks have EVERY other neighborhood in Seattle. Why try to take over the one historically black neighborhood? And you expect no comment on this issue. That’s embarrassing.

      • I currently drive all the way to Ballard to have a beer with my dog, meaning we go out less. I’ll be at the new place twice a week.

        As for the race issue, visit the Wonder Bar. It makes racial harmony seem almost possible. Seems to be about 40 40 20 Black White Asian mix on a regular basis. No particular weirdness or tension. Only problem is that the service level fluctuates from too much to too little. They need to focus on consistency.

        There is no end to the amount of beer we are willing to consume. Long ways to go before we are as tanked as the rest of the developed world. If we can call the CD developed.

      • I did not say I don’t expect any comments. I just felt that Rachel’s comments did not make sense since she or he is still living here when he/she claims this land is stolen. If you feel you have taken something that is stolen, or you have stolen it, then give it back. If it’s not yours to give, then the least you could do is move to someplace you feel is not stealing from someone else. Otherwise you obviously are not that bothered by it but pretend to be. I do not think her/his declaration that the people having to seek cheaper rents will return to “mug your kids” is an appropriate or fair way of presenting black and/or poor and/or any economically struggling people.

      • We don’t have a choice in the matter of whether or not land was stolen decades or centuries ago. It was stolen. There is no way to give it back. It happens all over the world millenium after millenium. It is happening today on a small or large scale in just about every local. It happens with the blessing of legitimate governments and through warfare or theft.

        Generally, however, here in the USA theft of land much less blatent and common than times past. Generally, people of all backgrounds can apply hard work and persistance to achieve a great deal and buy some type of home. The greatest problem of all is to encourage the belief in some that they are hopeless victims of the past and are disadvantaged against all the new people flooding in.

        Take a look at who the new people are and how hard they have struggled and persisted to achieve. Life ain’t easy. People and organisms struggle to survive. If you think you shoudn’t have to – fine. If you decide not to, well, good luck.

        This article is about hard working people of all kinds having a place to get a beer with their kid and or dog. It’s not race relevant at all. Actually, my dog is excellent at breaking racial barriers. Other than the minority of religious dog haters whom I really could give two ____ about, All kinds of folks stop and talk to me and my dog. Something that doesn’t happen when I am alone.

      • Grumbo. I agree with most of what you wrote, but I disagree that you can not give land back. Perhaps not as a nation as a whole, but if you personally feel you have stolen something I would think/hope that your actions would align with your ethics and give it back. You can easily hand over the title to your home to anyone of your choosing. I personally don’t see this land anymore stolen then the rest of the world as all lands are conquered and ownership is repeatedly exchanged and feel it irrelevant as well to the sense of loss some may be feeling about the changes.

      • So go de-gentrify Wallingford or Lauralhurst, oohh thats right that is where your white parents live and in your adolescent rebellion you must have a segregated home for the poor brown babies while you go home north of the ship canal or accross the bridge. Of course there is no such thing as a blck middle class in your mind or education. All black people are poor and must live in the CD and remain poor.. How white and racist of you!

      • Actually there are neighborhoods the white folks don’t have :) Nobody is really trying to take anything over in the CD right now. You’re late to the party friend. The takeover has already occurred. You ask why? Lots of obvious reasons. It’s not a mystery. It’s history. I don’t think anyone was expecting no comments. I think Lazara was encouraging people responding to Rachel to consider whether her posts warranted a response. That’s my take at least.

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  16. Chuck SHIN, the owner of this new venture is Asian. Anyone know who lived in this community prior to the 1950s? This is America. Anyone of any gender, race, religious belief, sexual orientation, or other differentiating factor with the right idea and the right amount of cash should be able to buy and create a business anywhere they please, for better or for worse. Staking claim on a neighborhood based on what races of people have lived there for the last 30 years is rediculous. I suggest studying up on the WHOLE AND COMPLETE history of our community before you pretend like you know anything about it.

    • Actually a large portion of the south CD was Japanese until they were forced into concentration camps and the African Americans bought the empty houses and stores.

  17. The thing is gentrification already happened here. The end result of a gentrification process is not a complete whitewash, it’s a shift in the socioeconomic makeup of a neighborhood. Meaning more affluent (often caucasion) people become the majority in an area that was formerly not like that. Gentrification happens and then it is usually sustained. We are in the sustaining period. Not the gentrifying period.

    Neighborhoods transform for many reasons and as many people continue to point out, this neighborhood has changed several times. The most recent change was a result of gentrification. The reasons for past changes were different and they are not entirely comparable. It is not exactly fair to point out past changes in the neighborhood when the negative effects of gentrification are mentioned, as if all change is natural and unavoidable. What is not mentioned is that ALL of the changes in this neighborhood did share a common factor: race politics. It is obtuse to ignore that fact.

    A lot of this conversation about how gentrification is “happening” though is just really, really late. It already happened. I don’t really see a benefit to talking about how it’s happening with a tone of it either being stopped or continued as necessary or relevant. It just seems like a topic for certain people to voice their ignorance and bias of each other and the true situation.

  18. “This is America. Anyone of any gender, race, religious belief, sexual orientation, or other differentiating factor with the right idea and the right amount of cash should be able to buy and create a business anywhere they please, for better or for worse.”

    Man, I want to move to YOUR America, because MY America is not really like how you described. Sounds good though!

  19. I propose we all acknowledge that gentrification can be hard for those who are going through it. You miss people. It’s the death of your community or it is another expensive and inconvenient move. So rather than calling people who are experiencing it wrong for feeling that way or coddling them by denying the reality or responsibility (if applicable), we accept it as part of the life cycle and revitalize our own drive to improve or change what we feel failed us. And in neighborhoods such as here and Ballard, the physical death of its residents have played a significant role, so let’s acknowledge that as well. And acknowledge that gentrification takes without consideration of color, religion or politics. Because what matters is the viability of the neighborhood within its environment.There are “poor” neighborhoods all around the world where small businesses thrive and the local culture changes very little. But that’s not where we are. We currently have very few businesses which are sufficiently supported by the neighborhood to garner survival so commercial space lays empty. I don’t feel it benefits people to see their world as abandoned or stagnant. Especially the young. Or to be on artificial life support without a real effort on a cure or a will to survive. Has this neighborhood been hurt by racism and class-ism? Of course. Are the opportunities the same for poor people as rich? Of course not. But at some point you are going to have to get to the “so what” moment and overcome the obstacles or you have a much harder struggle and become entrapped by the overly PC Seattle Bandaid system where it is taught that solutions comes from outside ourselves and outside the community. Where the focus is not on the realities of work, skills, equalizing opportunity and on overcoming the sometimes extreme challenges you will face. Instead, we have focused on softening the blow. Granted, I believe in safety nets (for everyone). And Affirmative Action as a jump start to equal opportunity (Black, Indigenous and women only. Not for Hispanics). But removing most if not all of the natural consequences from circumstances, actions and choices is a different kind of net altogether. Thank you all for the dialogue.

    • What is the hell does all this gentrifcation rant have to do with a great shop opening in our neighborhod that all will enjoy? Nothing!

    • @Lazara I really want to thank you for posting that. It’s good food for thought.
      @byron I’m not really sure how you figured all will enjoy this new beer spot. Most of the teenagers in the neighborhood will not. The kids whose parents don’t take them out with them to drink beer will not. My kids’ great grandmother, grandmother, and many others will not. The adults in this neighborhood who don’t drink beer will not.

      It’s interesting how often people think about something they like or enjoy doing and simply assume that every one else must enjoy it too. Or how their group vision of the neighborhood must be the best well, just because it is. False dichotomies get set up to support the idea and that is that. You think beer stores are bad? You must only want crime and gangs in the neighborhood. And so on and so forth.

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  21. Why do white people have to take over all close in neighborhoods, while us black people are pushed out to Kent where we have to drive every where? It just saddens me to see the changes afoot in the neighborhood.

  22. The white people are actually fleeing the boom of black gangs that invaded from here. They we would have remained in Kent. No it seems easier to take over this place and ultimately better for us.

  23. It’s funny when people don’t understand how freedom works. It is very clear that any person of any color can buy a house that they have worked to afford. Sure, there are perhaps some barriers, and where people choose to abide by those barriers, they remain a lowly lot of losers. The chains are in your mind.