Bartell Drugs moving headquarters to West Seattle Corporate Center in Delridge

By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Bartell Drugs, which has two stores in West Seattle, soon will have its corporate headquarters here too.

The company has leased space in North Delridge at the West Seattle Corporate Center, confirms marketing vice president Theron Andrews.

That’s the building known best for its huge flag, a legacy from its 1991 origins as the headquarters of Services Group of America, which moved to Arizona six years ago, blaming a “punitive estate tax” here. (A related entity still owns the building.)

Bartell Drugs, family owned and operated since 1890, is moving here from Georgetown, where it’s been headquartered for more than a quarter-century.

So why move?

Andrews says the corporate offices “no longer need to be near the warehouse. Systems allow the office and warehouse to be separated now.” West Seattle Corporate Center, he says, has the right location and the right “size of space.” It also allows an upgraded fiber-optics network for the company.

It’s been a year of big news for Bartell Drugs already, with plans to open a second store in Ballard, and a store in North Bend, as well as a variety of other new initiatives, including a remodeled and expanded website, all detailed here.

The company has been in West Seattle since 1938, according to Andrews, who says its original WS location on California SW was at one point managed by George D. Bartell, the company’s current president and CEO. (That location closed when the Jefferson Square store opened in 1987.)

Almost 100 Bartell Drugs employees will work in the new West Seattle Corporate Center space, with the move expected in October, according to Andrews – who, by the way, is a West Seattleite, and “really looking forward” to soon be working close to home.

(If you’re wondering about the occupancy percentage at WSCC once this move is complete – we have messages out to its leasing agents, and will add any additional information we obtain.)

44 Replies to "Bartell Drugs moving headquarters to West Seattle Corporate Center in Delridge"

  • Down In Delridge August 7, 2012 (1:03 pm)

    Rock On!!! Great news for Delridge!!! Bartells employee’s I welcome you.

  • Gawdger August 7, 2012 (1:12 pm)

    Perhaps they will square away that flag to the correct height/size ratio.

  • coffee August 7, 2012 (1:21 pm)

    YEA! So glad to see that building getting filled back up! It will be good for the hood!

  • Youngstown (North Delridge) neighbor August 7, 2012 (1:26 pm)

    Welcome to our neighborhood! We look forward to your arrival.

  • Kate K August 7, 2012 (1:35 pm)

    Welcome to your new HQ in West Seattle, Bartell Drugs!

  • LA August 7, 2012 (1:55 pm)

    Very pleased to hear.

  • nadj August 7, 2012 (2:14 pm)

    but still no decent place to walk to for lunch from this location!

  • Tucker August 7, 2012 (2:30 pm)

    Excellent. Welcome, welcome!

  • cranky westie August 7, 2012 (2:44 pm)

    I was hoping that the empty office space could be utilized as a coyote refuge, with private helicopter pad.

    • WSB August 7, 2012 (2:47 pm)

      Hey, Cranky, don’t give up hope. Though I haven’t heard back from the leasing agents yet, I suspect there still might be a suite or two available …

  • AEL August 7, 2012 (2:48 pm)

    Awesome news! Glad to see another healthy business choose our beloved Delridge area.

  • Strike em out Kinney August 7, 2012 (2:49 pm)

    Would that mean an extra Bartells being built in north Delridge as well? Not a bad idea as the closest one is in White Center.

  • JanS August 7, 2012 (2:57 pm)

    Strike ’em…there is a Bartell’s in the Admiral District. It’s a 6 minute by car drive from the new Bartell’s HQ to the store…I do it multiple times per week. No need to go all the way to WC….

  • B-squared August 7, 2012 (3:01 pm)

    Awesome! Love Bartell’s. Welcome:)

  • Bonnie August 7, 2012 (3:04 pm)

    Isn’t there a Bartells in Jefferson Square? For some reason I thought there was one in the Admiral area too but I might be wrong.

    • WSB August 7, 2012 (3:22 pm)

      The two current West Seattle locations are Jefferson Square and Admiral (on 42nd west of Metropolitan Market). The White Center location is right over the line from WS – 15th and Roxbury. If the story’s not clear enough, this is the corporate headquarters moving, not a store; the WSCC is an office building. – TR

  • Des Moines Dame August 7, 2012 (3:07 pm)

    Welcome to WS, Bartell corporate employees! I love shopping at Bartell. No matter which store I shop at, I always feel welcome. The stores truely are part of their communities.

  • MJ August 7, 2012 (3:33 pm)

    Any idea when the big move takes place?

  • WSB August 7, 2012 (3:51 pm)

    2nd to last paragraph, October.

  • sandy August 7, 2012 (4:00 pm)

    Great news! I always shop at Bartell’s–love that it is local and has so much history with the WS community. Great bargains too :)

  • jiggers August 7, 2012 (4:03 pm)

    cranky.. even the homeless would have put it to better use. But outside is were homeless belong and that’s were they stay..

  • MJ August 7, 2012 (4:03 pm)

    oops! Missed it, thanks!

  • Christopher Boffoli August 7, 2012 (4:17 pm)

    The facade of that building reminds me of an establishing shot of an episode of Remington Steele. Or maybe Dynasty.

  • Steve B August 7, 2012 (5:03 pm)

    I think there’s some extra poetic justic here for Bartell’s–wasn’t this the former headquarters for their arch rival Pay-n-Save before it imploded in the early 1990’s? Pay-n-Save was a large Pacific NW drug store chain–not sure who owns the remnants of it now.

    • WSB August 7, 2012 (5:37 pm)

      Steve B – Someone mentioned that in a comment on our FB link to this story; haven’t had time to go root around and look but intending to later when we get past Night Out and election coverage these next few hours … TR

  • Kate K August 7, 2012 (5:24 pm)

    Shopping Bartell’s is shopping local.

  • David Kerlick August 7, 2012 (7:06 pm)

    The flag has always irked me — bigger than the original Star Spangled banner in the Smithsonian, and bigger than the one fired on at Ft. Sumter. I wish the right wingers would stop trying to claim Old Glory as their exclusive property.

  • whuut August 7, 2012 (8:21 pm)

    David – really?

  • metrognome August 7, 2012 (9:05 pm)

    Pay ‘n Save was part of the Lamonts/Ernst empire; when it was dismantled, the remaining stores were bought by Payless and renamed. PayLess was later bought by Rite Aid. I think the Rite Aid store on California south of the Junction used to be a Pay ‘n Save.
    .
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pay_'n_Save

  • Delridge Mom August 7, 2012 (9:36 pm)

    I hope this helps attract some new restaurants or shops to the neighborhood.. The new apartment building on 26th will have some retail space, correct? Seems like this will help encourage some new businesses there. Welcome Bartell’s employees!

  • Youngstown (North Delridge) neighbor August 7, 2012 (9:59 pm)

    The Pay ‘n Save HQ was in the current DSHS/Kidney Dialysis Center on Delridge.

  • Harry Reems August 7, 2012 (10:12 pm)

    I am a staunch Democrat and I love driving by that flag on Delridge.

    Patriotism and love of country is not restricted to certain political parties.

  • coffee August 7, 2012 (10:13 pm)

    Yes we need a good local food spot. The chelan is good but its really the only spot right now. Skylark is too expensive for what you get, and they are continously messing with the menu. Plus if you go after 8 the music is WAY too loud. I’m excited for the addition!

  • miws August 7, 2012 (10:50 pm)

    Bartell’s rocks!

    .

    And metrognome is right. The Rite-Aid on California was a Pay-n-Save. Before that, that building housed the Safeway that moved to Jefferson Square, when it opened, in 1987.

    .

    Mike

  • Danno August 7, 2012 (11:36 pm)

    Blaming a “punitive estate tax” here. Duh. Like this is arguable? Some really nice families, probably some of them friends of you all or your kids had to move to AZ to keep their jobs and weather the storm that is BHO’s failed confiscatory mindset. Of course Mr. Thomas did not build it anyway, the government did. How dare he try to keep it for his family. The capital used to build SGA/FSA/SSA was after tax money. Oh, and did you forget that Mr. Thomas was killed in an aviation accident soon thereafter. What sour grapes…..

  • June August 8, 2012 (6:57 am)

    @Coffee, have you ever been to Luna Park on Avalon? Short distance from North Delridge, and the place to be on any weekend morning. Great service, food, and staff. Check it out!

  • denise August 8, 2012 (8:42 am)

    Love Bartells! Did the employees move to WS too? Good luck with the traffic.

  • bsmomma August 8, 2012 (1:27 pm)

    I Love that flag! It’s cool to see it waving in the air with the reflection in the mirror windows! Isn’t there a subway, coffee place and a Teriyaky joint right there?? What kind of food would the employees like to see?

    • WSB August 8, 2012 (1:35 pm)

      The teriyaki place closed some time back. Subway, Delridge Deli Mart, Skylark (though they don’t open till 3 on weekdays, I believe), Uptown Espresso …

  • AEL August 8, 2012 (1:45 pm)

    Emerald City Smoothie is in the lobby of All Star Fitness, too.

  • sam-c August 8, 2012 (2:13 pm)

    yeah, i was REALLY disappointed when Skylark decided to stop serving lunch. I really liked their salads. sandwiches pretty good too. oh well.

  • Barbara August 9, 2012 (9:17 am)

    Im excited to see that building to finally have occupants. However I’m not looking forward to the congestion from before/after work traffic, steel delivery trucks and school buses. Avalon and delridge crossroads is poorly structured and I’m affraid will cause so many commute problems. Good luck to all my pigeon point neighbors.

  • Ronnie A August 13, 2012 (12:33 pm)

    Well it’s only 100 employees, some of whom already live on this side of the bridge, and some of whom will surely take advantage of the bus stop right in front of the building. I don’t see traffic being any big issue. It will be great to have some more people around to support local businesses. Pearl’s has great lunch crepes and baguette sandwiches, and it’s only a little over a half a mile away. I do wish they could have come over in time to save that wonderful little teriyaki place across the street.

  • tom August 24, 2012 (12:05 pm)

    I have worked for the little B for 22 years. The last 16 of which I have lived in West Seattle and have lusted after this building. I am so happy to be “coming home”. There is so much both indoors and outdoors in the Delridge neighborhood. I may even break out the old skateboard!

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