West Seattle post-Christmas Monday: What’s open/closed/etc.

(Christmas Day view of the downtown skyline from West Seattle, by Emily Austin)
Since Christmas happened on a Sunday this year, today’s the official holiday, which means some closures and changes. Here’s what’s different as a result:

TRANSPORTATION: Metro is on a Sunday schedule today (and a “reduced weekday schedule” the next 4 weekdays); no West Seattle or Vashon Water Taxi service; Sound Transit is on a Sunday schedule (but no Sounder trains).

PARKING: We don’t have city pay stations/meters in West Seattle, but if you’re going downtown or elsewhere with Seattle street parking that has them, it’s a “parking holiday” – no charge today.

POST OFFICE/MAIL DELIVERY: Today is a postal holiday.

BANKS: Closed.

GOVERNMENT OFFICES/FACILITIES: Most are closed, with this exception …

SEATTLE LIBRARIES ARE OPEN: Seattle Public Library branches are scheduled to be open regular Monday hours today.

LIQUOR STORES: Junction store (42nd/Alaska) is open, according to this list.

SOLID-WASTE PICKUP: The City of Seattle is on a regular schedule this week, and for the next two weeks, you can include Christmas trees (rules explained here).

Richard Farrell December 26, 2011 (9:00 am)

And no UPS

KD December 26, 2011 (9:35 am)

Awww, that means that the UPS-stalking thieves have to take a forced day off..,and they are non-union, no holiday pay. WAH,WAH,WAH!

DBurns December 26, 2011 (10:58 am)

Thanks so much for this info – I knew it would be here – what a gift to have this news site in our community! Thanks WSB, and Happy Holidays!
Donna

ZS December 26, 2011 (11:50 am)

What about restaurants? I assume most are open.

WSB December 26, 2011 (11:59 am)

We only asked for info for Christmas Eve/Day. I’ve heard of a smattering of businesses taking the entire week off (City Mouse, Dubsea Coffee in WC) but would also assume that most are open … we were out early this morning trying to get a “king tide” photo pre-dawn and noticed most coffee/breakfast places we passed appeared to be open (along Fauntleroy/Avalon/Alki, anyway!) … TR

Admiral California December 26, 2011 (2:52 pm)

Wanted to take my family to Heartland Cafe today. Their web site says the dining room opens at 3 on Mondays, with nothing about special holiday hours. I called them just now and for some reason they didn’t explain, it’s actually been open all morning and is closing at 3. Unbelievable.

I continue to be baffled at how cavalierly West Seattle businesses treat their customers when it comes to operating hours. If I’d invested my life in a small business, and I was competing against huge national chains with millions to spend on marketing, I’d think it was pretty important to offer better customer service, not worse. Maybe the owners of Heartland Cafe are independently wealthy and don’t need my money. They certainly seem to be running their business more like a hobby.

WSB December 26, 2011 (3:13 pm)

Jason – your comment brings up an interesting point and I wish we were consultants rather than journalists as we’d probably have more power to help people see the light on this – this is not Heartland-specific, we have seen it happen for many businesses, both local and elsewhere: Some are putting too many of their eggs in the social-media basket these days, when websites are STILL what more people can find via Google (and other means), and therefore the FIRST place that topical information should be placed.
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Facebook and Twitter – much as we love them, as early adopters who have used them intensively for more than four years – do not come up consistently in Google. I say this because I know Heartland for one has been mentioning hours on its Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/cafeheartland … but it’s likely that when you looked for information online, the “open today till 3 pm” tweet did not come up on Google (or Bing)…
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Some businesses have explained that it is too difficult for them to get their websites updated (they actually have to get the developer to make changes!); we have evangelized keeping business websites in a blog format, which is ridiculously simple to use (trust us, we’re no techies), and some do that, or have “blog” components on their websites, to which they have access (examples include longtime WSB sponsor Click! Design That Fits, http://clickdesignthatfits.com/blog ) …
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I do notice that Heartland’s tweets come up on their EVENTS page, including the one about today’s hours:
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http://heartlandcafeseattle.com/events/
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For what it’s worth, the pages in the WSB Restaurant Guide do have Facebook/Twitter links for each restaurant (when we could find them) listed … and I know from all the time I have to spend in all three online spaces, Web and FB and Twitter, that all three are worth checking for info. But if you’re a business and reading this comment, whatever kind of business, please take it from somebody who spends most waking hours online – social media CERTAINLY has its place, but it is NOT where most people go first to find information about a specific business, so keep your websites updated (and if you can’t do it yourself, consider throwing out whatever you have now, and putting up something in “blog format” so you can do it as easily as sending e-mail)! – TR

newnative December 26, 2011 (5:40 pm)

Another issue is treating said social media as a hobby and not as a valid branch of business. For example, I noticed a local business stopped posting daily specials on Facebook. When I enquired I was told that the person in charge decided to take a break for personal reasons. If you’re using social media for promoting your business, it seems worth it to maintain consistency.
I agree with your stand on user-friendly websites. There are too many outdated pages that give bad information.

questionable December 27, 2011 (3:12 pm)

“Social media” such as twitter and facebook should be treated like the hobby or tool for children that they are. Using such silly ad feeders for relevant information is completely unprofessional and is becoming as dated as using geocities or aol to host a business website.

Sorry, comment time is over.