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.

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!

(Photo courtesy And Arlen)

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

(WSB photo)

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!

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.

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.

Back in August, we reported that a permit filing for a commercial space at Maris (4722 Fauntleroy Way SW) showed that All the Best Pet Care plans to return to West Seattle, 14 years after it closed on Alki. The company didn’t answer our inquiry back in August but has finally sent us an update, saying things are finalized now that they have their permits. All the Best says this will be the local mini-chain’s 17th store, and that they’re hoping to open “in early 2024.” The reply adds a bit of background on the company: “Susan and Ira Moss opened the first store in 1985, and we remain locally owned and family-led.” This will be West Seattle’s eighth pet-focused retail shop, by our count (after Pet Elements, Addy’s, Next-to-Nature, Mud Bay, Pet Pros, Petco, Pet Supplies Plus).

That’s the team at Seattle Bridal Rack, a “brand new off the rack bridal boutique” at 4304 SW Walker in North Admiral. They’re planning a grand-opening party in a week and a half. Seattle Bridal Rack is an offshoot of Samila Bridal and Formal, which has been matching women with special-occasion apparel for a quarter-century – “we joined forces with our master pattern makers and trusted vendors to bring forth the same level of excellence and trendy designs at outlet prices.” Seattle Bridal Rack says it’s “the only bridal shop in Washington state to offer both sample sale and brand-new gowns at discounted outlet prices.” They offer free appointments and also say they’re “the only discount bridal boutique that has digitalized our entire dress collection online” so prospective customers can look at the selection before making an appointment. You can even take your dress home the same day. But even if you’re not currently engaged – or expecting to be – Seattle Bridal Rack invites you to the grand-opening celebration, 2-4 pm Sunday, October 15th, which will be not only a showcase (and ribbon-cutting) for the new shop, but also will feature partner vendors with everything from bling to blossoms.