West Seattle Blog…

West Seattle businesses: Seamart store reopening after a year-plus

March 29, 2012 at 10:12 pm | In Highland Park, West Seattle news | 16 Comments

Story and photos by Deanie Schwarz
Reporting for West Seattle Blog

Highland Park’s Seamart convenience store will reopen at 16th/Holden Friday, with new property owners, more than a year after the former building and convenience store’s owner was foreclosed on (as reported here in December 2010), which led not only to the store’s closure but also to the shutdown of JoJo’s Fine Espresso and the relocation of Zippy’s Giant Burgers.

The new owners, partners Saejin Lee and Yungie Sun [above], say they saw a “unique” opportunity in the Highland Park business property. Lee’s family sold their previous Central District store on Jackson (Seven Star) to purchase here in West Seattle. They expect to attract both new and previous customers to their store, and to the new neighboring tenants, Athena’s Gyros (their plan to take over the ex-Zippy’s space was first reported here in mid-February), and an as-yet-to-be-determined coffee stand vendor.

Lee says the shelves are still being stocked, but his goal is to eventually bring in as many choices for his customers as possible. Lee mentioned that a new parking lot will be installed during the summer and possibly some new exterior lighting will be added.

Meanwhile, Athena’s owner Nick Parisi (with the help of artist Glenn Case, at left in photo below, with Parisi) installed his new sign last week.

Parisi says that, permitting process pending, he still hopes to open the sit-down gyro and gelato shop by mid-April, as the buildout continues which will transform the former teriyaki joint-then-hamburger mecca into a Greek-fare/gelato sit-down and Athena food truck commissary.

The Seamart owners, meantime, tell WSB that parties/vendors interested in the exterior space for an espresso stand are welcome to stop by the store for more details. The store hours are currently Sunday-Thursday 7-11 and Friday-Saturday 7-12 – and that starts tomorrow (Friday, March 30th), with the doors scheduled to reopen for the first time at 7 am.

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9:08 AM FRIDAY, EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks to the commenter who pointed out the store did NOT open first thing this morning; Deanie called to check and the owners are now planning to be there around noon.

16 Comments

1. Yay! So glad that space will no longer be vacant. Welcome to Lee and Sun!

   Comment by datamuse — 10:17 pm March 29, 2012 #

2. Congrats you guys! That’s great. I’m glad to see things opening back up.

   Comment by Donna Lawson — 10:24 pm March 29, 2012 #

3. Go Cougs! (Congrats on the store and your taste in schools ;)

   Comment by Chuck & Sally's Van Man — 12:17 am March 30, 2012 #

4. excited to see this space open again, but wow- i don’t mean to be a downer, but hopefully they do a better job for Highland Park then a quick look at their yelp reviews suggest they did for the Central District. Maybe we can bend their ear and let them know what the neighborhood could really use (like some fresh produce) as we are awash in ruffles, candy, bad beer, and processed food already!

   Comment by hp res — 7:34 am March 30, 2012 #

5. gluten free beer?? Welcome to the neighborhood!!coffee please!!!!!

   Comment by cclarue — 7:35 am March 30, 2012 #

6. GO COUGS!

   Comment by Mike — 7:41 am March 30, 2012 #

7. At 7:45 this morning, it didn’t look open (mostly dark inside, neon “open” sign not lit). Did the opening time move?

   Comment by Jen — 7:54 am March 30, 2012 #

8. That’s what they told our reporter … but things can change … we’ll check.

   Comment by WSB — 8:03 am March 30, 2012 #

9. Welcome to … Highland Park.

   Comment by DF — 8:40 am March 30, 2012 #

10. PLEASE stick with the great beer selection. That’s such a nice feature and a real differentiator from the 7-11 across the street.

    Comment by Westside — 8:59 am March 30, 2012 #

11. Update: We went by and there wasn’t anything on the door indicating a delay but in the meantime, Deanie called to check and tells us they just told her they plan to open around noon today. That is a change from when she interviewed them – sorry about that. Will put a note in the story – TR

    Comment by WSB — 9:07 am March 30, 2012 #

12. Agree with Westside! The unique beer selection the previous owners stocked was THE reason we shopped there.

    Comment by Julia Scully — 11:33 am March 30, 2012 #

13. I’ll have to stop by and say “Hi!” … with my Dawg hat on ;)

    Comment by BlairJ — 12:00 pm March 30, 2012 #

14. Excellent. I will stop by and support.

    Comment by John — 5:55 pm March 30, 2012 #

15. And fresh bars over the windows!
    Thanks for the touch of class. :(

    Comment by Sunny — 10:31 am April 1, 2012 #

16. Stopped by earlier today and very happy to say that a good beer selection is back on Holden and after talking with the owners is only likely to get even better. I will be changing my commute route back to what it was before.

    Comment by nomothetes — 4:11 pm April 5, 2012 #

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