16 Replies to "Food & drink followups: Swinery; Proletariat Pizza; new Starbucks"

• D.A. September 10, 2009 (10:56 am)

  Thanks for posting updates about new businesses opening. Looking forward to (almost) all of them!

  One question… In the other article re: SBUX opening, there was a comment to look for an update about the used goods store on Delridge/Findlay opening as something else. Is that update coming? Is it really going to open as something other than an eyesore??

  Thank you!!!

• WSB September 10, 2009 (11:01 am)

  Yes, there’s a coffee shop coming to part of that space. Since it’s been a couple weeks since my chat with the owners, I sent them an inquiry to check if they have nailed down a few more of the details that weren’t locked down when we talked, and I’m awaiting that reply before running the story … TR

• coffee September 10, 2009 (11:38 am)

  Is the question about the new coffee shop on Delridge or QFC area? I just drove by there and was wondering. If its Delridge, isn’t it close to Pearls?

• WSB September 10, 2009 (11:41 am)

  It’s on Delridge. The former “used goods” (Delridge Vacuum/TV). Not that far from Pearls – several blocks south.

• D.A. September 10, 2009 (11:55 am)

  Ooh! This is good news! Thank you, and I will be on the lookout for more details!

• rs September 10, 2009 (1:24 pm)

  I think it would be helpful if you’d stop referring to The Swinery’s location as “The Former Muttley Crew Cuts” and instead start giving its address, or using a more helpful landmark (I’d go with “one block south of PCC”).
   
  People are going to go to The Swinery to buy food, not to get former haircuts for their doggies.

• WSB September 10, 2009 (1:56 pm)

  Nothing personal to this project, but when one business takes over the place of the other, we usually refer to it that way for a while. Porterhouse opened in the former Blackbird space, etc., Pegasus moved to the former Coyotes on Alki/Chez Million/Lighthouse/Point Grill space, etc. etc. etc. Once they’re open, it will be an address and not a former. That’s more than a block south of PCC, I think … its address is in the 3200 block while the PCC is 2700 block … TR

• sacatosh September 10, 2009 (3:16 pm)

  I agree with the previous commenter who asked for address rather than landmark in stories about new places opening up (or anything else, really)

  As a relatively new West Seattleite, I have no clue where “Joe’s Hardware” or “the space where Jane’s Nail Shop used to be” might be. Google doesn’t always help with those type of descriptions. Even “near X elementary school” – I don’t have kids and don’t know which school is which. I know I live near a couple, but wheter they are called Lafayette or Pathfinder or Cooper or whatever, I haven’t the foggiest. It would REALLY help to nail down the location with an address, and that would in turn help me learn where some of the neighborhood landmarks are.

  If you were to say “in the space that used to be Muttley’s in the 3200 block of California” it would help more of us know where you’re talking about.

  Thanks for considering it.

• rs September 10, 2009 (4:15 pm)

  I do understand your “usual approach,” what I’m suggesting is that is isn’t helpful to your readers, particularly when the former business in question served a niche clientele. Not all of your readers are dog owners, only a fraction of dog owners use grooming services, and even those who do stick with one they like, usually nearby.
   
  What I’m saying is that only a few of your readers know where The Swinery is going to be, and your “usual policy” isn’t helping the rest of us.
   
  As to whether the place is more than a block south of PCC: The Swinery will be at the corner of California and Hanford, and the PCC parking lot starts at California and Stevens. That’s one block, no matter what your fancy address numbers say.
   
  Maybe next time a glance at a map would be in order before correcting a reader?

• old timer September 10, 2009 (8:02 pm)

  Thanks for all your good efforts WSB.
  I am glad you are here for us.

• bridge to somewhere September 10, 2009 (9:53 pm)

  Yeah! Here’s to a new business in White Center (w/o porn) :-)

• k2 September 11, 2009 (11:26 am)

  Starbucks doens’t have ‘franchised’ locations, it would either be a Company Owned, Licensed Location (in the case of Safeway) or a Food Service account (in the case of a Barnes & Noble).

• where is that you say September 11, 2009 (2:39 pm)

  Great comments! As a newcomer to Seattle and not knowing where anything is (other than work and home), I can relate. People who move to a city for the first time use the internet a lot (at least I did) to learn what is going on and where in their new neighborhood. I can’t tell you how many posters/blogs/event invitations I have found that lack one or two critical pieces of information…frequently, the address. You would be doing a great service to your readers and the community you wish to support, by providing the information requested by some of your readers.

• WSB September 11, 2009 (2:50 pm)

  We do 95% of the time – search the site for the word “map” which often indicates where we linked a Google Map, and you will get more than 2,000 results. In this case I screwed up but want to say in our defense that we also link to additional information vastly more than any other news source (and if you find somebody with more inline links than us, please provide the site name/link because I want to learn from them) – every story, short and long, takes additional time to research and produce while I find the link to the organization, their website, their contact info, whatever, and add it, as well as links to past coverage, court documents, flyers, supplementary material GALORE. But I appreciate the feedback.

• WSB September 11, 2009 (3:01 pm)

  k2, this is what I got from Starbucks PR:

  Thanks for your inquiry and follow-up. We can confirm that there will be a new licensed store scheduled to open in the QFC later this month. Starbucks is always looking for great locations to better meet the needs of our customers. We will continue open stores where our customers look for us. Starbucks is excited to deepen its commitment to West Seattle and pleased to offer our customers more opportunities to experience hand-crafted coffee beverages and legendary customer service in a warm and inviting environment that offers a true connection to the community.
  

  I looked for a starbucks.com-domain explanation of a licensed store. This one is the first I’ve found:
  http://blogs.starbucks.com/blogs/customer/archive/2009/06/02/questions-about-licensed-stores.aspx
  .
  It says a licensed store is “owned and operated by … a licensee” – I see there are some legal differences between licensing and franchising, so perhaps I used the latter term too colloquially here. But the Starbucks explainer doesn’t say a licensed location is company-owned. I know we have SBUX employees in WSBland, so I’d love to hear further clarification – TR

• ex starbucks person September 12, 2009 (1:08 am)

  As someone that worked for starbucks for a number of years, I can explain to you that a licensed store is a store, similar to the safeway location a block away, where you can expect the same coffee beans, the same coffeeshop look and feel, and familiar products and pastries. The difference is that the people are not starbucks employees and the store is not built or operated by starbucks. The people in the store are employees of QFC that receive training from Starbucks. IMO, don’t expect the same level of quality that you would receive in a ‘regular’ starbucks store, because the people serving your coffee don’t work for Starbucks (A couple weeks working the starbucks, a couple weeks working in the deli, etc). No disrespect to the people that will be staffing the store, I’m sure they will be nice people, but they will not have the level of training or professionalism that you’d receive at Cupcake Royale down the street.
  Of course, you could go to the Starbucks drive through two blocks away, and receive some of the slowest service I have ever seen at any Starbucks anywhere.
  Don’t get me wrong, I love SBUX coffee, but I can’t stand a poorly run store or slow service. In the junction, we have Starbucks that fit both categories.
  Thanks WSB for keeping us informed!

Sorry, comment time is over.