West Seattle, Washington
28 Thursday
Five years after Pike Place’s renowned Shug’s Soda Fountain – owned by West Seattleites – announced plans to add a “mini” location at California/Charlestown, it’s finally opening! They told us earlier this fall that they were very close, and now they’ve set the date: This Friday (November 17th), noon-9 pm. Since originally announcing the West Seattle plan, Shug’s has had plenty of community involvement, including pop-ups right outside the doors that are about to swing open, but now it’s time to finally welcome people inside. The menu board has been visible through the windows for some days, as shown in the reader photo above and others sent to us – scoops, cones, sundaes, floats, and some adult drinks (which is why a liquor-license application has been posted on the door).
11:56 AM: The impending closure of the Westwood Village Staples store – first announced last month – doesn’t just mean one less retail outlet. It means the end of other services provided there, such as TSA Precheck. We’ve received this note from Shana Anderson, who says she’s the main TSA agent at the store, and wants you to know this:
We close next Friday, the 17th, but I just found out that the Burien TSA won’t open for a month.
If people need Precheck before the holidays, they should go to tsa.gov and make an appointment. The closest Precheck places other than West Seattle are Renton and Fife.
12:57 PM: Shana just emailed again after learning that Wednesday is the last day at Westwood.
We told you back in June about Panterelli, the coffee-and-pastry shop in The Junction owned by Jacques Nawar, who ran Pizzeria Credo a block away for a decade. Today we received an announcement that Panterelli will celebrate its grand opening this Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, after having been in “soft open” mode for four-plus months. Panterelli focuses on éclairs and choux à la crème (cream puffs, pronounced “shoe”), and will introduce new choux creations as part of the grand-opening festivities. As the announcement explains, “Panterelli is named for the chef who created the distinct pastry style for Catherine de Medici in 1540.” It also says Panterelli – at 4210 SW Alaska – will soon expand its hours, currently 9 am-3 pm Wednesdays-Sundays (closing earlier if and when they sell out).
Still deciding what to do tonight? You can visit the Viscon Cellars (WSB sponsor) tasting room and try two just-released Washington red wines that are both new and not-so-new:
(Photo courtesy Viscon Cellars)
Winemaker Ben Viscon explains, “These are new vintages of some of our longtime customer favorites – our new 2021 Heart Box Red Merlot, and our 2021 Rhyme and Reason Syrah.” The Viscon Cellars tasting room – where you can also enjoy wine by the glass – is at 5910 California SW, open 5-9 pm tonight and 1 pm-6 pm tomorrow (Saturday, November 11).
An Alki business is closing, and is also now up for sale. Here’s the announcement we received from Outer Space Seattle:
It is with a mix of emotions and deep gratitude that Outer Space Seattle, the beloved Indoor Playground and Party venue located on Alki Avenue, announces it will be shuttering its doors this December.
Outer Space Seattle, known for its space-themed play structure and creative artwork, has been a haven for children and families in the West Seattle community since its inception just four short years ago. Outer Space hosted countless memorable events, was often present at outdoor community events, and fostered a sense of belonging among its patrons and staff.
Owner Caitlin Huertas is currently seeking another organization, individual, or group who may be interested in carrying forward the spirit and legacy of Outer Space Seattle, either at its current location or via a relocation of its play structure to another suitable site. Absent a suitable successor, their last day of operation will be Friday, December 22nd. Outer Space would like to remind families that if you have any active gift-cards or play passes, to please redeem them before closing as we are unable to provide refunds.
For more information please contact Caitlin Huertas at info@outerspaceseattle.com.
For inquiries, or expressions of interest in acquiring Outer Space Seattle, please contact Susanna Tran or Julie Shizukuishi of West Coast Commercial Realty at 206-283-5212.
Susanna Tran susanna@wccommercialrealty.com
Julie Shizukuishi julie@wccommercialrealty.com
Outer Space Seattle was announced for the 2820 Alki SW spot four and a half years ago; before that, it was home to Marée Bistro.
Family-owned Menashe & Sons Jewelers is celebrating 50 years in business this holiday season, and the party starts with an open house that’s happening right now. Until 8 pm, you can visit the shop at xxxx California SW in The Junction to enjoy snacks, sips, and deals – in connection with the anniversary celebration, the shop is offering sales including at least 30 percent off everything in the store. You can also visit to congratulate Jack and Linda Menashe on not only their 50 years of business success but also 52 years of marriage!
A little more than two months after Dere Auto closed at 35th/Barton, the repair shop has reopened as a Meineke Car Care Center. That’s what departing Dere staff told us in August was planned for the site, replacing Meineke’s 17th/Roxbury location, which closed because of impending redevelopment. Hours for the new Meineke will be 7:30 am-6 pm Mondays-Saturdays.
Today we welcome Seattle Canine Club as the newest WSB sponsor. When local businesses start advertising on WSB, they get the opportunity to tell you what they do – so here’s what Seattle Canine Club, which is in SODO – convenient for many West Seattle commuters – wants you to know:
We have over 19 years in the market. We are among the few that offer a one-stop shop for all dog-related services (day care, boarding, grooming, training, and lab services) but especially notable, we are the best-rated dog facility in Seattle, with over 4.9* in our Google Reviews. We are proud to pay the best salaries in town and have staff members with as long as 9 years in tenure with us. We provide a safe environment for dogs, where peace of mind of our humans is key – we invest on our staff and are constantly improving our processes and services.
Here’s why customers choose Seattle Canine Club – they always value the care we bring into our services, the level of detail and attention we give to their dogs and our relationship with them. We are a family-owned business and our staff treats our members’ dogs as their own. We don’t charge for playtime, treats, lunches, or anything you’d consider just caring for dogs. And we go the extra mile to help dogs be happy, calm, and enjoy their time. Our grooming, training, and day-care services follow FearFree approach to ensure minimizing any dog anxiety. Also, all our staff is Pet CPR and First Aid certified. Members come first because they need a place for their dogs for boarding or day care, they stay because they know we care for their furry friends as they would themselves.
For some members, Seattle Canine Club has touched their life by enabling balance between their busy professional careers and their love for their dogs. Our first member, 19 years ago, is currently on her 4th dog, coming every day of the week. For another member with 4 teacup dogs, we created a unique pricing model that fit her special needs. For another member who is originally from across the world, a passing in the family meant that their faithful companion spent 2 months with us. We took special care with walks, training, and exercising outside the normal services. Every dog and every member is unique, and meeting them where they need us is what makes us unique!
Seattle Canine Club‘s owner is Jose Rodriguez, who took over the business when founder Rick Beaubelle retired after 18 years in business. Since then, he has grown the staff 30%, and included training, grooming, and lab services as part of the offerings, as well as doing renovations across the facility and expanded capacity to meet our customers needs. Seattle Canine Club is at 2751 4th Avenue South [map] – phone #, email, and other ways to reach them are here.
We thank Seattle Canine Club 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.
Thanksgiving Day is three weeks away. So tonight, West Seattle Thriftway (WSB sponsor) invited a few guests over to serve up samples of what you might want to serve during the holidays. In addition to vendors – like, above, Macrina Bakery and Eltana Bagels – they’re also dishing up deli-cooked dishes, like roasted turkey and stuffing:
You can even make dessert decisions:
The “Holiday Taste” event is on until 7 tonight. You can order from the holiday menu any time through the Monday before Thanksgiving (November 20):
Thriftway is at California/Fauntleroy.
Three West Seattle biznotes:
THRIFTWAY ‘TASTE’: The holiday season starts early this year, with Thanksgiving just three weeks from Thursday, and West Seattle Thriftway (4201 SW Morgan; WSB sponsor) will get you in the mood this Thursday. That’s when the store will be full of sample stations for its popular annual “Taste” event, 4-7 pm Thursday (November 2). The focus is on samples for your potential holiday meal-and-party planning.
AND ARLEN ANNIVERSARY: This Saturday (November 4), the jewelry and gift shop And Arlen – on the north edge of The Junction at 4130 California SW – celebrates one year in business. Stop by to congratulate the team!
The party is set for 4-7 pm Saturday: “We’ll have snacks, drinks, discounts, and raffle baskets with goodies from other WS and Seattle small businesses.” Read more about it here.
CLINIC UPDATE: The Franciscan Women’s Health Clinic will reopen next week at 4550 Fauntleroy Way SW. Here’s the announcement we received:
After a temporary closure, Franciscan Women’s Health – West Seattle will be offering OB/GYN and midwifery services to patients starting on Nov. 7. General business hours are from Mon-Fri 8 am-5 pm. Appointments can be scheduled at (206) 403-1601.
First dates of reopening West Seattle women’s clinic:
Tue 11/7 – Dr. Chelsea Cox
Thu 11/16 – Dr. Whitney Archibald
Tue 11/21 – CNM Jennifer “Jenna” Noelke
3:23 PM: It’s the traditional kickoff to Hallo-weekend – West Seattle’s first round of business-district trick-or-treating, happening right now in the Admiral District. The onslaught of trick-or-treaters hasn’t quite arrived yet, but the businesses at and around Admiral/California are ready and waiting – above, the Bebop Waffle Shop crew; below, the folks at Baked Custom Cakes:
And don’t miss the spooky ceiling-dwelling spider at Alki Bike and Board (WSB sponsor):
Here’s what the Circa crew cooked up:
This year the trick-or-treating is just the first event in an expanded slate – some grownups-only events are happening too. See it all on the WSB West Seattle Halloween Guide page, including the full list of where and when you’ll find special trick-or-treat events in the next few days. This one in Admiral is on until 6 pm – more photos later!
5:44 PM: As promised – more scenes from around the Admiral District!
Lots more trick-or-treating this weekend – again, see the list in our Halloween Guide!
The signage is now covered at what was The UPS Store in Jefferson Square. In case you missed it, The UPS Store, Inc. told us Wednesday that the store no longer was affiliated with the corporation, and that’s why the corporate website labeled it “permanently closed.” The business remains open, however, just not as a UPS Store. We went back this morning and talked to a manager who said that they’re not sure what’s going to happen with the business next, but here’s what’s happening now: They plan to be open 9 am-4 pm daily. If you get mail there, that’s still accessible. Same with package deliveries. But in terms of outgoing packages, all they can accept are pre-labeled returns. Meantime, we’re trying to reach the owners to see if we can find out more about the business’s future.
SIDE NOTE: After hearing from a concerned customer of the now-ex-UPS Store, Bree at Alki Mail & Dispatch sent us a note with an offer for anyone else with concerns: “If they are able to have their packages redirected to us here at Alki Mail (4701 SW Admiral Way), we would be happy to hold them and keep them safe. We usually charge a $4 holding fee for non-mailbox customers, however, in light of the situation, for anyone coming from the UPS store, we will be happy to provide this service to them for free for the time being. We also have mailboxes available for rent for those in need and we can also accept pre-labeled packages across all the carriers but unfortunately, we cannot accept any QR code returns. I’m here for my community and want to do whatever I can to help!” (Any other local providers of similar services with similar offers are welcome to contact us too. Readers had several suggestions in the comments on our previous story.)
As we’ve noted before, HomeStreet Bank in The Junction chooses a local business/organization to spotlight each month. This month, it’s West Seattle Runner (which, like HomeStreet, is a WSB sponsor), and proprietors Lori and Tim McConnell stopped by Wednesday for a prize drawing – branch visitors are invited to enter each month. (With Tim and Lori above is HomeStreet’s Joyce Leslie.) This month’s winner gets a pair of shoes of her choice from WSR (which is at 2743 California SW in Admiral; HomeStreet is at 4022 SW Alaska in The Junction).
11:21 AM: Several readers have contacted us in the past few days, wondering what’s up with The UPS Store in Jefferson Square. It’s been having technical troubles – with signs on the door warning “system down” – and their store is listed online as “permanently closed.” After the latest question, we went over this morning to see what we could find out. First, store staff told us (as they told a reader earlier this week), the corporate website is wrong – they are NOT closed, nor planning to close – and they’ve been reporting that to them, trying to get it corrected, but no luck so far – it’s out of their control. Second, they indeed have been having persistent technical problems with their point-of-sale/shipping system – it keeps crashing – and they’re trying to get that fixed, but in the meantime, the store IS OPEN for other services (but bring cash).
5:29 PM: We’ve since heard from The UPS Store, Inc., whose spokesperson Casey Sorrell said via email:
Please note that the business located at 4742 42ND AVE SW, Seattle, WA 98116-4553 is no longer affiliated with The UPS Store. We apologize for the inconvenience and recommend customers visit nearby The UPS Store locations at: 126 Sw 148Th St., Ste. C100, Burien, WA 98166 or 17837 1St Ave. S., Normandy Park, WA 98148. For questions regarding a pending package, customers can contact Customer Service at 1-800-789-4623 or visit TheUPSStore.com for other products and services.
We won’t be able to follow up with the Jefferson Square store until tomorrow regarding what that means regarding their business’s future plans.
The pop-up-shop space on the ground floor of the Senior Center of West Seattle (California/Oregon) is hosting an outpost of Pegasus Book Exchange this week. Emma Epps of Pegasus explains why: “This week we are celebrating Pegasus’s 40ish Anniversary! ’40ish’ because the store was actually founded in 1977, but it’s now been in my family for 40 years.” So for special events and extra selling space, they’ve added the pop-up through Sunday (October 29th). Here’s the schedule Emma sent:
The location of all these events is 4500 California Ave SW (the Senior Center Annex at the corner of California & Oregon), NOT the main store.
10/25, 10/26, 10/27, 10/28 – 11 am Kids’ Storytime (special guest on Saturday)
10/25, 10/26, 10/27, 10/28, 10/29 – 11 am-6 pm Pegasus Book Exchange Pop-Up Shop with shirts, stickers, totes, 40% used kids’ books, and free tote bags!
10/28 Open House with Fred Epps, owner of Pegasus Book Exchange
The main shop is open too, but the pop-up is where you’ll find all of the above. And remember that Sunday is Halloween in The Junction (along with the regular West Seattle Farmers’ Market), so you can stop by the Pegasus bonus space while visiting for one or both of those!
A safety drive at West Seattle’s Nucor steel mill is going to support the work WestSide Baby does keeping babies and kids safe – from car seats to diaper supply. Nucor reps stopped by WestSide Baby’s headquarters in White Center at noontime today to present a $11,040 donation stemming from the company’s fall Observation Blitz. Nucor’s safety director Shayne Dinkle explained that the company has a special campaign of “safety observations” twice a year – here’s how it was explained at the time of a similar donation last year:
During the Blitz, which ran for three weeks, Nucor challenges their teammates to complete as many safety observations as possible and donates $5, for every observation completed, to a local charitable organization.
You can support WestSide Baby too – find out how via their website.
Ten years ago, we reported on an application filed to turn a space on the south side of Westwood Village into a location for Panda Express, the fast-Chinese-food chain. That proposal eventually stalled, and the space became a physical-therapy clinic. Today, checking the Westwood Village map – which is where the center’s new-ish owners have first publicly disclosed future tenants – we discovered Panda Express is back in the picture.
That’s a screengrab showing a new addition to the map today – Panda Express is penciled in for the spot next to QFC that Pet Pros occupied before moving to Jefferson Square. It’s in the row that already holds many of WWV’s other food/beverage businesses – Sub Stop, Toshi’s Teriyaki, Happy Lemon, Starbucks. We have an inquiry out to Panda Express to see if they’ll comment. Their nearest restaurant is in Burien; the two existing Seattle locations are both in the north part of the city.
Thanks to Sharonn for the tip. Two days after its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, Rite Aid has disclosed the initial list of stores it plans to close or sell. In our area (West Seattle/White Center), the only store on the “initial closing stores” list is the Bartell Drugs store in WC (9600 15th SW) that already closed (three weeks ago). You can see the full nationwide list of 154 “initial closing stores” starting on page 23 of this document (for those interested in Burien, the list also includes a Rite Aid store at 110 SW 148th). In addition, Rite Aid is selling some other stores, but none in West Seattle and vicinity – that list is in this document (only one in the Seattle area is at 2707 Rainier Ave. S.) We’re still browsing the documents for any indication on when further closure/sale plans will be announced, but for now, the four West Seattle Rite Aid and Bartell Drugs stores are NOT on either “initial” list.
When you have a small business, you’re often everything from the CEO to the CTO to the COO to the HR director to the staff. How do you get it all done? Spending just one hour in a free class this Thursday at West Seattle Coworking (WSB sponsor) can pay off – here’s the invitation:
Hello, neighbors and fellow business owners. Following the success of last month’s workshops, we are happy to present another free event for our beloved Business community. There are so many hats to wear as a small-business owner and so little time in the day. Come and learn from this one-hour conversation on how to boost our efforts and regain lost momentum. This Thursday, October 19th, 5-6 pm at West Seattle Coworking HQ, 9030 35th Avenue SW. Find more details and signup link here.
Rite Aid announced tonight that – as long expected – it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Its announcement says it’s arranged for $3.4 billion in financing, but expects to close “additional underperforming stores.” Rite Aid has two stores in West Seattle – California SW south of The Junction, and Westwood Village – and the company owns Bartell Drugs, which has two West Seattle stores, in Admiral and The Junction. As first reported here, the Bartell store in White Center was closed just two weeks ago. The announcement does not list stores planned for closure, and this “fact sheet” says, “While we do not yet know which stores will be closed, we will keep you informed as decisions are made.” No timeline is listed for those decisions. Meantime, if you’re interested in legal documents, a sheaf of them related to today’s filing can be found here. They include “first-day motions” on which a hearing will be held tomorrow before a federal bankruptcy judge in New Jersey, where the case was filed.
The shopping started early at this year’s West Seattle Ski Swap, happening now at the VFW Hall in The Triangle (3601 SW Alaska). It’s presented by Mountain to Sound Outfitters (WSB sponsor), whose store is across the street, and proprietor Greg Whittaker decided to open the doors early so shoppers didn’t have to wait in line. It’s not just skis, though they are available in abundance – you’ll also find snowboards:
And boots:
Plus gloves and other apparel/gear to keep you comfortable during your winter adventures:
Most of the items are from hundreds of your neighbors who consigned them for the sale. Day 1 continues until 5 pm, and then there’s a second Ski Swap day tomorrow (Sunday, October 15th), 10 am-4 pm.
Thanks to Kathleen for the photo! That’s your host Meaghan at Highland Park Corner Store (7789 Highland Park Way SW), where Oktoberfest-ivities continue until 7 pm. Special food, beer, music, more (including a 5 pm stein-raising competition), as noted on the HPCS website. (As also spotlighted in our daily event list, North Delridge’s Ounces is celebrating Oktoberfest too!)
1:49 PM: One week after HeartBeet Organic Superfood Café closed in Morgan Junction (following its sibling businesses Youngstown Coffee and Launchpad Coworking), proprietors Autumn and Monica sent word that their “closing sale” is under way right now, continuing tomorrow (Sunday): “We have plenty of items left that would be helpful for folks looking to save some money. Pantry and frozen/fresh items, kitchen/office/electronic supplies, holiday decorations, masks, paper goods, kitchen equipment, Vitamixes, metro racks, and much more.” The sale continues at 6032 California SW until 4 pm today, and 9 am-4 pm tomorrow.
6 PM UPDATE: Tomorrow between 9 am and noon, it’ll be “make an offer” – they’re still planning to be there until 4 pm but the faster they clear it all out, the better.
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