(scroll down for Tuesday updates until we publish a new followup story later)
Thanks to Mike, Diane, and Carol for the tip – Alki Bakery suddenly closed its flagship retail outlet at the beach tonight, after a quarter-century. The official note above reads:
Thank you Alki Neighbors and West Seattle for a great 25 years!
Our lease has run its course and it’s not viable for us to renew at a rate that works for both Alki Bakery and our landlord.
The letter indicates that their other outlets remain open in Georgetown and Kent, and that their products will still be sold at Metropolitan Market (WSB sponsor) and West Seattle Thriftway. In addition to the official letter on the door, a handwritten note addresses “To all the friends and family we couldn’t say goodbye to … Thanks for the good times and memories, love you all.”
(Photo courtesy Mike Jensen)
Alki Bakery was originally located on the opposite corner of 61st and Alki, where Alki Café is now; the now-closed bakery location was previously a drugstore. This is the latest of several sudden business closures in West Seattle, including the restaurants Café Revo in Luna Park (here’s our Oct. 12 report), Table 35 in The Junction (here’s our Nov. 1 report) and the Juneau Street Market north of Morgan Junction. But neither of those was a fixture like Alki Bakery; here’s how Carol expressed her surprise on the WSB Facebook page:
Walked past Alki Bakery this evening and noticed paper covering all of the windows & thought there must be a remodel happening but when I got to the front door there was a sign posted saying the bakery and the landlord could not negotiate a new lease and they are now closed for good as of today. Sad day on Alki!
TUESDAY MORNING: A bakery fan has set up a “Save the Alki Bakery” Facebook page. (added) Outside the bakery at 61st/Alki this morning, WSB’s Ellen Cedergreen found Alki Bakery employee Erin Corriston posting a note on the door to her “regulars.” She told WSB that employees were not informed of the decision to close and that she learned of the closing last night from the store manager:
TUESDAY AFTERNOON: Ellen was told by someone else at the scene that the property owner, Joanne Richey, had died recently. We finally found her obituary, online in the Seattle Times, from four months ago (read it here). The pharmacy mentioned in the story is the one that was at the Alki Bakery site pre-bakery.
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