It takes a village to get a Trader Joe's
Good luck trying to buy local in Southeast Seattle. With so many people and so much money, why is it a retail desert?
Eric Scigliano
Eric Scigliano
Eric Scigliano
Eric Scigliano
I’ll admit that when it comes to neighborhood shopping, my standards are high. I got spoiled 20 years ago living near the mother of all retail corners, at Sixth and McGraw on Queen Anne. In that one-block strip sat my physician, dentist, and optometrist; a good pint-size supermarket (Ken’s) and a tiny organic food store; the bakery that later became Macrina but was better then; a video store; and a fine non-chain stationer and pharmacy. (Yes, there were such establishments then.) Three blocks down McGraw was a gas station with an ace mechanic and one of two hilltop hardwares, where they never asked for receipts when you returned stuff and told you to just pay later if you forgot your wallet.
Four or five more blocks got you two full-size supermarkets, a cheap produce market, and a pet store and model shop (if those are what turn you on). There was another pharmacy, Salladay’s, where you could drop off your utility payments and buy an old-fashioned toy. On birthday-party Saturdays, you’d see the other neighborhood dads there, picking up last-minute gifts. I could have gone weeks, even months, getting all my errands done without starting the car or working up a sweat.
That neighborhood retail nirvana ain’t what it used to be. Like the Liebowski Dude, Ken’s and Five Corners Hardware endure, nearly unchanged. So do the big supermarkets. The rest of those amenities have moved or folded; independent drugstores, stationery stores, and gas stations with ace mechanics have gone the way of the passenger pigeon. Dry cleaners and chic spas and body-work studios have proliferated. Still, Queen Anne has gained a cozy independent bookstore (a whooping crane, not a passenger pigeon) and more restaurants and bars than anyone would have imagined possible. As neighborhoods go, it’s still a garden of pedestrian-accessible delights — a main reason people pay through the nose to live there, even in these hard times.
I can’t help remembering all that with a pang when I contemplate the retail offerings of my new neighborhood, Brighton Beach, a beachless stretch in the Rainier Valley. The vast expanse of Seattle has some delightful, quirky little shops and a rich range of restaurants, mostly concentrated in one short strip of Columbia City. Elsewhere, it’s a terrific place to eat and shop for food, if you like eating cheap and ethnic, especially Vietnamese. Its little international shops and flea markets, and various gradations in between, are fun to explore, breathing in the startup aspiration, but hit-or-miss when you need something. And it’s got enough auto-repair and body shops to fix half the beaters on the West Coast. Proprietors in those fields face a retail glut: “Margins are low, because there’s so much competition nearby,” says Julie Pham, president of the MLK Business Association. Her father, Kim Pham, publisher of Nguoi Viet Tay Bac (Vietnamese Weekly News), expects many of them to leave the valley in coming years. One African body-shop proprietor tells me he’s trying to sell and get out; price wars are killing his trade.
But in other ways the area's a retail desert. In 2009 the city commissioned a study from the Virginia-based Community Land Use and Economics Group on retail resources, deficiencies, and opportunities in the Rainier Valley. It found that businesses in the valley sell less — in most cases, severely less — than standard business models would predict for the population there in 11 out of 13 retail categories. They supply only about one-seventh the expected demand for electronics and appliances and one-quarter of the demand for furniture and home furnishings. Despite the profusion of exotic restaurants, which draw devoted adventurers from outside, the valley does less than two-thirds of the $70 million “food services and drinking” business it should be able to support. Perhaps that has something to do with their low prices.
The valley’s sales exceed its demand in only two categories: notably groceries, where it should support $83 million in business and instead does $156 million, and “building materials and garden equipment,” where it exceeds the model more modestly. The apparent reason: the valley has four mainstream supermarkets plus several Vietnamese/Chinese markets, one excellent and one quirky bakery, a likewise excellent seafood shop, and one big-box building supply (Lowe’s, on the site of the old Sick’s Stadium). Southeast Seattle’s other neighborhoods — Judkins, Mount Baker, Lakewood, and Seward Park to the east and Beacon Hill to the west — have none, and some of their residents shop here, and least for those items.
But the numbers don’t tell the whole story. Take those building materials, a supposed area of strength. Neighborhoods in the near north end are chockablock with hardwares and specialized building supplies; at least nine in Wallingford, eight on Stone Way alone, and perhaps as many in Ballard. Southeast Seattle, with a population of about 115,000, has that Lowe’s, plus an old-style lumber yard, Stewart Lumber, at its north end. Nearer the valley’s midpoint, the late Chubby & Tubby, an idiosyncratic but charmingly practical general retailer, had a hardware section and a loyal clientelle, but it folded eight years ago, supposedly for personal rather than business reasons. If you need nails in Southeast Seattle, you must drive up to five miles on busy streets to that Lowe’s or McLendon Hardware in Renton and, if the line’s long or you get some particularly inexpert help at Lowe’s, spend an hour buying them.
So imagine my delight a couple weeks ago when I noticed a new storefront sign in Hillman City, graphically similar to those over many pho shops: “888 Northwest Garden Supply. Indoor-Outdoor Garden Supplies.” I needed clover seed for winter ground cover, but as soon as I entered I knew I wouldn’t be in the clover here. (I finally found it at City People’s Mercantile on Madison.) “Uh, we don’t sell seeds here,” the young clerk said. What they did sell was lots of high-powered fertilizers and grow lights. Evidently their clientele practices a more lucrative sort of gardening. Maybe it’s retail synergy; there are three marijuana dispensaries within half a mile.
But though there’s no new construction going on, people still fix up their houses down here just like everywhere else. Wouldn’t enough of them opt for convenience, proximity, and service to support a Rainier Beach or Hillman Hardware, similar to the Ace and True Value stores that thrive to the north? And shouldn’t untold other business opportunities just wait to be filled in the retail desert? The CLUE consultants thought so: “We believe that Rainier Valley represents one of the most overlooked opportunities for retail development in the Seattle metropolitan area,” they concluded, listing a number of “favorable characteristics” that would attract retail investment.
Ray Akers thought so too. He views the valley from a unique dual perspective. Akers grew up in Columbia City in the halcyon 1950s and early ’60s. “Columbia City bustled. It was thriving, eclectic, diverse.” He remembers the classy Cleo’s Dress Shop and Rector’s Men’s Shop, Grayson & Brown Hardware, and the soda fountain at the drugstore where Geraldine’s Corner sits now, and the electric trolley that still ran down Rainier Avenue, connecting other healthy commercial districts: “It was a string of pearls.”
Like what you just read? Support high quality local journalism. Become a member of Crosscut today!
Twitter
Facebook
RSS Feeds
Comments:
Posted Tue, Nov 22, 9:06 a.m. Inappropriate
I live in Mt. Baker, and I've always considered the lack of chain stores to be a plus. Instead of spending money at Target or Trader Joe's, I can find most anything I need at an Asian grocery store. Plus, I'm supporting local businesspeople. I've never had trouble finding a good restaurant in Rainier Valley.
Posted Tue, Nov 22, 9:47 a.m. Inappropriate
Stewart Lumber's knowledgeable staff will help you buy your nails plus lots of high-quality materials like Douglas Fir lumber that aren't available elsewhere.
BTW, PCC just announced it's citing East Green Lake's flagship store in the long-vacant former Darigold location, only about a half-mile from the Aurora PCC.
Posted Tue, Nov 22, 10:04 a.m. Inappropriate
A streetcar on Rainier Avenue in the 1950s and 60s? Hardly. If there was one, it went out in 1939 or 1940 with all the rest. Old Number 7 has been puffing diesel fumes longer than either of us has been alive.
Posted Tue, Nov 22, 10:07 a.m. Inappropriate
The northeast Seattle has similar issues. Lake City would love to have some more businesses open other than Strip Clubs, Pot shops and car dealerships. I would love to have a Trader Joe's I could actually shop and park at. The U District one is crazy busy and the parking is a nightmare.
Posted Tue, Nov 22, 11:15 a.m. Inappropriate
Lake City is actually pretty good for a variety of stores. I live in Olympic Hills and there is a QFC, a Safeway, a Fred Meyer and a Grocery Outlet all within a mile or so of my house. There's a good hardware store, an auto parts store, two thrift stores, lots of restaurants (and the new Elliott Bay Brewing Company opening up in a few months), an awesome beer store, coffee shops, cabinet makers, ethnic groceries, furniture and flooring stores, pet stores, a couple of pharmacies, and a really good gym. There is also a dance studio, two martial arts gyms, the Seattle Gymnastics Academy and is pretty close to two public pools.
Posted Tue, Nov 22, 11:28 a.m. Inappropriate
The Rainier Avenue streetcar made its last run at 1:45 a.m., January 1, 1937, according to HistoryLink.
Posted Tue, Nov 22, 12:46 p.m. Inappropriate
I always thought the Rainier streetcar's tracks got torn up around the same time as Seattle's other lines. But Ray Akers distinctly remembered riding it as a kid, and I was reassured by this reference in the city-sponsored CLUE study referenced in the story: "The streetcar line was removed in 1960, and development shifted to Empire Way." Perhaps Akers actually recalled riding electric trolleybuses. Did those continue to run down Rainier? Anyone know when diesel took over there?
And yes, Stewart Lumber does offer expertise and serious building materials. But it's a long way from Hillman City and Seward Park.
Posted Tue, Nov 22, 2:04 p.m. Inappropriate
"buy local"... Trader Joes? Are we talking about the California based grocery store? Or some guy named Joe who sells stuff, because buying from "Trader Joes" is no more local than buying from Safeway. (Blueberries from Maine, not Snoqualamie, Tomatoes from Florida... etc. etc.) It's not that Trader Joes sells bad stuff, but they have the same 10,000 mile supply chain of every other major grocery store around here.
Posted Tue, Nov 22, 3:10 p.m. Inappropriate
Trader Joe is the trade name for a tightly controlled German company owned by two secretive, right-wing brothers. That laid-back Hawaiian theme is naught but a fig leaf.
Posted Tue, Nov 22, 3:40 p.m. Inappropriate
Do you mean Aldi? There are actually two Aldis, one for each brother, with separate territories (Aldi Nord and Aldi Süd). Trader Joe's is part of Aldi Nord (brother Theo Albrecht, the former owner died last year). And in Germany, "Right Wing" means Neonazi. I assume you mean conservative, as in CDU/CSU which would put their politics somewhere to the left of Joe Biden.
Posted Tue, Nov 22, 4:17 p.m. Inappropriate
I distinctly remember riding the streetcar on 15th Northwest to downtown Seattle with my grandmother when I was a tot in the mid 1940s. Guess what. Those tracks were taken out in the late 30s. Never happened. In 1951 I lived in Rainier Beach, where my pals and I played along an underdeveloped Rainier Avenue. I remember a log culvert diverting water into Lake Washington, a cabinet shop where we picked up scraps for our projects, the Umbrella Grill,
the Serve-U Market, and being sent to the principal's office at St. Edward's from Mrs. O'Houlihan's 4th grade class. I can't remember any streetcar tracks on Rainier Avenue. But I do remember going to the Clyde Beatty Circus in a tent where the Safeway now is near Othello. Clyde had a long whip, and those big cats paid attention.
Posted Tue, Nov 22, 5:10 p.m. Inappropriate
In Monrovia, Calif., the city council printed up and then handed out post-paid postcards asking Trader Joe's to build a store. Enough people did that they built a store -- and moved their headquarters to the city.
It's going to take that sort of grassroots/top-down planning of a "We want you here" campaign (I didn't see the postcards, I assume it asked for name and address) that convinces a business to be the first to get on board with the opportunity. Others will soon follow.
If not a Target or a Trader Joe's yet, perhaps there's a B- or C-level opportunity that's looking to expand. (If the climate would ever improve.)
Posted Wed, Nov 23, 9:26 a.m. Inappropriate
As a 20-year [white] resident of the RV, I tend to discount denials of racism from Seattleites who live outside the valley. Despite Columbia City’s Renaissance, I still get ‘the look’ when I tell people where I live – the look that says, “why would any white person with a decent income choose to live *there*?” Of course, they’re far too polite to actually say that out loud.
In addition, I note that whenever the P-I or Seattle Times reports on a violent crime occurring anywhere south of I-90, the comment boards light up, with remarks that bear a common theme of “what do you expect from that part of town?”
Given that, I predict it’ll be a very long time indeed before retail nirvana comes to our little corner of the city. But y’know what? This area is far too special in so many ways to be ruined by the sprawl and ugliness a Target mega-store or Walmart always creates. I think we need to be choosy about who’s allowed to set up shop. I’d much prefer to see Hillman, Mount Baker or Rainier Beach develop a retail community with Poulsbo-like charm, rather than Puyallup-like blight.
Posted Wed, Nov 23, 8:09 p.m. Inappropriate
I was one of the first a few years back to suggest that we in the Othello neighborhood try to recruit a Trader Joe's if Safeway pulled out. Then I found out about the kind of upscale demographic that Joe's wanted, the same demographic that the PCC found in Seward Park but not here.
Nevertheless, even as big chains turn their backs, Rainier Valley continues to develop economically. Othello is thriving, thanks to government investment (light rail and New Holly) and has fantastic sites for transit oriented development. It's time for the PCC and others to look to the future, not the past - to get in on the ground floor in a neighborhood that is well positioned to prosper in a future of expanding light rail and ever higher oil prices.
We at Whistle Stop Co-op are doing exactly that, and we love the diversity and the opportunity to help develop the Othello town center - not just as a coffee shop and bike repair place but as a community gathering place.
Posted Wed, Nov 30, 1:50 p.m. Inappropriate
Wow, since when does economic prosperity = chain stores? I agree that southeast Seattle needs more retail, but chain stores and gentrification don't really seem like a good solution.
Posted Tue, May 21, 11:34 a.m. Inappropriate
There are a total of six “supermarkets” in the Rainier Valley:
1. Safeway on Othello & MLK – small and dirty.
2. Safeway on Rainier – big and dirty but friendly staff (and a fair number of mentally disturbed customers).
3. QFC on upper Rainer – expensive and cramped (owned by Kroger).
4. Saar’s Market on Rainier & Henderson – actually very pleasant with good selection (despite the unfortunate name); former QFC and before that a Stock Market branch.
5. PCC on Wilson – very small, crowded and cramped. Highest quality in the valley but expensive; not for the claustrophobic. Will relocate to Columbia City (next to BOA) in 2015.
6. Viet Wah on MLK – exotic & interesting even though they sell the worst beer in the world (333 & Saigon Special; thankfully Spinnaker Bay, the new brewpub on Rainier, brews some of the best beer in the world)
In the mid 1990’s a big new supermarket opened on Rainer (think it was called the Market Place). They had a great selection and reasonable prices; it was bright, clean and full of people. In a short span of time Safeway bought them out, closed their decrepit location on Rainier & Genesee (where the Jumbo restaurant is now located) and moved in – this is now Safeway # 2 above.
The experience of the Market Place proves that a large “nice” supermarket can make it in the Rainier Valley. As I understand in years past there was a Fred Meyers on Othello and an Albertsons on MLK and Graham (where the U Haul is now). Why Fred Meyers’s (also owned by Kroger) does not return baffles me. Actually they real problem is in Georgetown & South Park where there are NO supermarkets at all!
Login or register to add your voice to the conversation.