As you may know, the plant store Envy has moved out [update: and moved over to 15th and Madison, opening later this month] and the commercial space (on the SW corner of 25th and Union) is currently available. A few locals and I want to quickly poll the community and ask: what kind of shop would you like to see there? We probably couldn’t open a full diner (which I agree from earlier posts would be better suited at 23rd & Union), but we’d certainly love to open something that would benefit the community. Thoughts?
Vote on your favorite option here
Was chatting with a friend the other day about how the MLK/Union area is coffee-less. Maybe an opportunity…
now that starbucks is gone from safeway the only nearby place is tougo coffee…i love them! it would be a great place for another cafe, especially if they could have
wi-fi !!! plenty of neighborhood folks would frequent it!!!!
I’m close to the starbucks at s.jackson, which is fine but I’d definitely go frequent a cafe at 25th and union!!!
I doubt a wine bar would fly there based on the challenges that the owners of the bottleneck had in trying to open a new place next door last year, but a nice wine retail store would do well I think. Coffee would also be great.
We’d love to see another local business move in and pick up where we left off. Being specialty retail like our store was made it tough to go it alone with no adjacent retail businesses, but coffee or wine or something like that would definitely fare better in that part of the CD.
We hope to see you all in the new store when it opens on 15th and Madison later this month!
i think this location would be a great place to have a sort of upscale corner store. (similar to those found in smaller neighborhoods in nyc) with some regular groceries, some prepackaged items (i bet a lot of people would drop in to pick up dinner/lunch to take home), drinks, and specialty items. health products, cleaning products, pet foods, beer, wine, condoms and cigarettes wouldn’t be bad either.
essentially anything a typical convenience store would carry, but with some healthy, unique, organic options instead of just cheetos and ho hos. sort of a miniature cross between trader joe’s and metropolitan market.
Whatever it is, it would be nice if it had a self-service copy machine.
for convenience items or a sit down coffee spot.
(sarcasm)
It would be cool to have a place that has outdoor seating
I’ve long wished for a place in the area that served breakfast and/or brunch on the weekends. There is currently no place to go in this area (that I know of) for a real sit-down breakfast, despite several coffee shops nearby. I realize this might be a harder sell during the week… maybe if it was combined with another business, like a bookstore? We don’t have one of those in walking distance either.
uh, ever been to Katy’s?
I think a little coffee house would be very nice there, especially if it stayed open until 9 p.m. or so. I’d totally hit it for lattes after my frequent trips to the Grocery Outlet.
I’d love it if we had a simple, casual, and affordable sushi place in the neighborhood. That or a coffee shop would be my pick. Something that serves as a gathering place and encourages people to get out and support local businesses.
Good point – my only problem with Tougo is that it closes too early, especially on Sundays.
Fancy french words, but they basically describe the most primitive food – pastries and breads! You can do so many things with this carbs to make them into a full meal, often in a hurry. Modern American Patisseries seem to have a glass case with pre-made dishes, kinda like an upscale supermarket deli-counter; get sandwiches, salads, cured meats, cheeses, potpies, cooked veggies, etc. Usually a few beers and an extensive wine list is available as well.
I think a combo of good coffee and good patisserie/boulangerie food would be excellent for this location as great place to stop for morning coffee/breakfast, for casual dates, and just to hang out, this would be a great way to accomplish a NH meetup spot!
“Patisserie”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pâtisserie
“Boulangerie”: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boulangerie
having bounced into envy a few times the place seemed to get great light – perfect for a Patisserie – Boulangerie/hang out/have a beer/coffee/croissant/cured meat sandwich (maybe not in that order:) spot!
Cheap and good Pho or Shushi
Envy Owner – who’s the landlord, what’s the SF?
I think I could dig up a great fit from all these suggestions.
I don’t know that Pasta and Company would in itself be a great match, but a place with great fresh take out, along with a place to relax with a snack or coffee might work.
COFFEEE!! and sandwiches! GOOD sandwiches!
Patisserie – Boulangerie, definitely.
A small Asian noodle house would be just right for the cornor space. There’s nothing like that in the neighborhood.
The space has 680 sf, including the mezzanine level.
The building owner, East Union Street LLC, can be contacted by phone at 206+720-0166.
FYI: A party is very seriously looking at opening a coffee shop even as I write this. Negotiations are ongoing. One member of this party just entered into a one year lease of the townhouse residence above the space. This sort of fulfills the project’s original development vision of “live above work.”
Randall Spaan, Manager, East Union Street LLC
P.S. A wine bar could be approved for this space as an Administrative Conditional Use. I believe the ACU would be approved. Problem is, however: Who has the time or money to go through the 6-to-9-month process?
P.S. The Craigslist posting was just reactivated. A little more detail there.
Whatever it is, it would be great if it could be a place for people to be able to sit down and meet, whether it’s coffee or hamburgers, that wouldn’t matter to me. I am always looking for places close by to meet others in the neighborhood.
It would also be great if there was outdoor seating so that I could walk my dog to that location. She would like that too.
There is a modest outdoor seating area between the building and the public sidewalk on 25th Ave. It measures 6 feet x 12 feet.
BTW, I have long thought that a pet supply store would do well in the currently vacant middle space on E Union Street (2423 E Union).
BUT: As of tomorrow, the residential space above this commercial space will also be vacant (by design) because it will be put on the market for sale as a “Live Above Work” unit. Ownership is offered in fee simple title (i.e., not a condo). Conventional financing is available.
I really enjoy the idea of a coffee shop. A coffee/bookstore combo would be an awesome deal. Then again…I just really like books :) I’m excited either way!
How about a vet? Seems like there is a good dog population in the area.
….with coffee, of course…..books would be great too.
Another member of my household requested a good sandwich shop.
How about taking the community into consideration and working on something that is affordable, realistic (we don’t need another Pho or Terryaki or French bread or coffee only spot), how about healthy affordable food that people of all cultures could get into with magazines and community info…
People of all cultures don’t like buying bread? What a bizarre comment.
Now a great deli (ooh… a greek deli?) would be awesome. One that didn’t sell smokes, lotto, or alcohol, and that has an espresso machine.
i think most of these ideas are great, but in reality i think a successful biz needs to have a vision for what it wants to do rather than sticking its proverbial finger in the wind. Again, it’s important to take the temp of the community, but just asking folks what they want is probably not a recipe for a strong business.
btw, from my understanding, there are only three power outlets in the entire place. not exactly great for some of the things described above.
FUCK A COFFE LACE PUT UP A POLICE STATION INSTEAD THAT CORNER IS SUPER SKETCHY HAVE POLICE VISIBLE INSTEAD! IDIOTS!!!!
I agree with Randall – more than a few neighbors, and my partner and I, think a pet supply store would be good. There are a LOT of pets in this area.
While a coffee shop, brunch spot, outdoor-seating sandwich spot etc. all sound like they’d be nice, I don’t think this exact spot is quite ready to be Madrona at the moment.
Since Jackson Street Books closed, a bookstore would be great; a bookstore/cafe with baked goods, sure.
If you were opening it just for me, I’d love a kid-friendly coffee/meeting place…like Tougo without having to walk up the hill, oh, and with pie. Pie would be nice.
That or a niche store as this area isn’t exactly flooded with off-the-street foot traffic (I live across the street)….it’s more of a “destination,” heh.
Also, wine bar/wine shop? Are you kidding me?
Large tables to allow prereading as well
East Union LLC is no friend of the neighborhood.
I think a lot of the above ideas sound fun…but this neighborhood has plenty of businesses that cater to the gentrifying crowd. I, for one, would like to slow that gentrification process if at all possible. My vote is for african-american owned; whatever it may be. Let’s support our african american businesses so we don’t see another seattle neighborhood get swallowed up into yuppy-land.
If a few more folks get murdered, trust me, gentrification will slow down. Yuppies are picky about neighborhoods. Gunfire tends to scare them off.
seriously guys? come on.
I read through this and think most of you belong in South Park or White Center or some other far-flung corner of King County. We have MORE than enough options for crappy produce/soda/beer/halal/corked wine/fried garbage here in the CD. You want less gunfire? Less violence? Less depreciation (if you own)? The neighborhood needs more mainstream retail and food and drink establishments that residents can WALK TO safely and conveniently. Yes, it’s not Madrona. It’s not Capitol Hill. It’s not Fremont. But does that mean we need to just settle for all of these sh*tty corner markets and over-abundance of deep fryers and East African cuisine? Diversity (not just in racial make-up of residents) is the key to developing a functional and vibrant neighborhood which will benefit every resident and every business. Stop being so short sighted.
If more businesses like Dilletante(sp?) or like the 2nd bar from the Bottleneck owners or even boutique retail Envy had better reasons to move in and stick around, this could be an amazing area of Seattle to live in a few years from now. Today, it’s just the cheapest and most dangerous. Not exactly great attributes.
Wishing4WalkableCD:
I don’t know if your message was meant to be a direct reply to me but if you look at my message from a few weeks ago:
“i think this location would be a great place to have a sort of upscale corner store. (similar to those found in smaller neighborhoods in nyc) with some regular groceries, some prepackaged items (i bet a lot of people would drop in to pick up dinner/lunch to take home), drinks, and specialty items. health products, cleaning products, pet foods, beer, wine, condoms and cigarettes wouldn’t be bad either.
essentially anything a typical convenience store would carry, but with some healthy, unique, organic options instead of just cheetos and ho hos. sort of a miniature cross between trader joe’s and metropolitan market.”
You’d see that I agree with you, and would like something that resonates with the diversity of the neighborhood and offers something crappy corner markets and deep fryers don’t provide. I don’t like the idea of a wine bar simply because I feel it alienates much of the CD community. A store where everyone could come to get fresh prepackaged meals, drinks, home products, specialty items, etc. appeals to a wider variety of residents with a broad range of needs.
I don’t think anyone in this entire post has asked for another place with deep fryers, crappy convenience marts or East African restaurants. I do know many many of us appreciate those businesses that already exist, but recognize the need for some additional diversity. But the CD without Ethiopian and Ezell’s? No thank you!