By Tracy Record
West Seattle Blog editor

Angela Rivers‘s dad started West Seattle Coins on the southeast corner of California and Oregon in 1979. Her mom had a hair salon in the back. She and her brothers “grew up in there,” she recalls.

But suddenly, it’s the end of the line for the West Seattle Junction shop (which changed its name to Bellevue Rare Coins for unified branding with the company’s four other shops outside the city, but remains under the same family’s ownership).

You’ll recall the West Seattle shop closed after a robbery last month, and announced it would stay closed while remodeling and improving security. That was the plan until the landlord, the Senior Center of West Seattle, informed Bellevue Rare Coins that rather than allow extensive remodeling, they wanted to end the lease – originally running through next year – early, so they could expand Senior Center operations into the corner space. After the Senior Center sent us an announcement of this late Wednesday, we contacted BRC to find out about their plans, and that’s how we ended up speaking with Rivers today.

“It was a shocker. We didn’t see this coming,” she said. “It took us by surprise.” She also described it as a “double whammy” in the wake of the robbery (part of a regional rampage for which suspects are in custody), which in turn happened just three weeks after a glass-smashing attack at the store.

Here’s how the Senior Center explained it in the announcement sent to us:

Bellevue Rare Coins has been a great tenant and member of the Junction business community. We made this decision because Bellevue Rare Coins had recently announced plans to invest in tenant improvements in that space. The Senior Center staff and board are currently in a strategic planning process that include future plans for that space, and it was very likely that we were not going to renew their lease when it expired at the end of 2023.

Our future plans include an entrance on the California Ave. side of the building, which would help our community members find and access our facility. It may also be used in the future as an extension of our current Café, which offers freshly prepared soups, salads, sandwiches, and coffee weekdays to members and non-members of all ages.

Our short-term plan is to make this corner space available as a “pop-up” event and retail space. As we outline our next steps in our strategic plan, we will share our vision and get feedback from the community.

We want to thank Bellevue Rare Coins for their partnership as a longtime tenant.

Rivers says reopening without remodeling wouldn’t have worked because it’s “not a functioning store” given the damage from the robbery as well as the needed security upgrades, which she says they’ve since put in place at their other stores. Those other stores (in Bellevue, Issaquah, Lynnwood, and Tacoma) are all going strong, she says, so they’re “going to make the best of this” and might find another Seattle location, maybe even in West Seattle, someday. Meantime, she wants local customers to know, “We’ve enjoyed every moment of being part of the West Seattle community.”

Today we’re welcoming a new WSB sponsor, Sound Credit Union (4730 California Avenue SW). New sponsors get an opportunity to tell you about what they do, so here’s what Sound Credit Union wants you to know:

At Sound Credit Union, we’re West Seattle through and through. We know it. We love it. But what makes West Seattle so unique? With so many well-loved features and landmarks, it can be hard to agree on a favorite, but no list would be complete without including The Junction.

To visitors, or even just those new to the neighborhood, the crosswalk at California Avenue SW and SW Alaska Street can seem puzzling. The light turns red, and traffic stops in all directions? Pedestrians can cross whichever way they want? What is this madness?!

But the beauty of The Junction — known as “pedestrian scramble” — is that it puts people first. And as a local not-for-profit credit union, we’ve always put people first. We’re known for our personal touch, our great interest rates, and our active support of local organizations: we helped more than 290 community organizations just last year alone!

And right now we’re celebrating West Seattle by giving away free T-shirts* featuring that quirky, people-first crossroads at The Junction to anyone who walks into our location on California, just a few steps from the all-ways intersection we all know and love.

Come in and say “hello” for your free T-shirt! And if you open a checking account at our West Seattle branch location, we’ll even throw in $100*. We’re Sound Credit Union, and we’re worth crossing the street for. Diagonally, if you want!

Sound Credit Union is located at 4730 California Avenue SW, just south of SW Alaska Street in The Junction, and is open 9 a.m.–6 p.m. Monday–Friday and 9 a.m.–1 p.m. Saturday. You can find us online at soundcu.com, and you can contact our West Seattle location by phone at 800-562-8130, ext. 8220.

*Visit soundcu.com/junction for offer details.

We thank Sound Credit Union for sponsoring independent, community-collaborative neighborhood news via WSB; find our current sponsor team listed in directory format here, and find info on joining the team by going here.

Another corner commercial building in one of West Seattle’s junctions is up for sale. This time it’s the building on the southwest corner of California and Fauntleroy in Morgan Junction, home to Peel & Press, Pet Elements, Starbucks, Subway, and West Seattle Vision, and a ~39-space parking lot. It’s listed as “26,668 square feet with future development potential with NC3-55 (M1) Zoning” at an asking price of $6.2 million. According to county records, the building last sold 20 years ago for $2.2 million. Records also show that two properties to the south, same side of the street, have sold recently – the Ivy Court mixed-use building (6525 California SW) for $12.3 million last November, and the Marnae Apartments (6533 California SW) for $6.6 million last month.

P.S. We should note that the former WaFd building kitty-corner from the newly listed building (6428 California SW) still has a FOR SALE sign up; we’ve never found a public online listing for it, so we don’t know the asking price.