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Gyro World exits as Broadway Market plans construction

It’s the saddest news since Broadway lost Grubwich. CHS got a few tips on the closure but tipster Scott put it best:

It looks like Gyro World abruptly shut down over the weekend. Some of the kitchen equipment is gone already but there’s no information posted out front, and the QFC employees I asked didn’t know what happened. Bummer!

CHS found a shuttered restaurant Monday. We’re checking in with Gyro World’s owner Morteza Chini to see what more we can learn about the decision to shutter.

According to filings with the City of Seattle, the Broadway Market shopping complex’s management group is readying plans for construction on the “north end of the first floor. The budget is listed at $265,000.


Businesses on that end of the complex included Gyro World, Broadway Video and the Broadway Shoe Repair.

A quick check-in with the shoe repair guys revealed they’re staying put and will be part of what’s next. “We’ve got a very long lease,” CHS was told.

Meanwhile, work is also underway to overhaul the Broadway Market QFC with the addition of more self-serve checkouts, a Murray’s Cheese counter, and more changes including a new space for the internal Starbucks.

We’re reaching out to management group Madison Marquette to ask about the construction. Last March, the group announced a $14 million investment in the shopping center.

UPDATE: We’re reminded to include that the BECU branch could also be part of the construction work in that area of the market.

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Matt
11 years ago

They had some of the best fries on broadway.

Dod
Dod
11 years ago

I just can’t bring myself to use them. I find them endlessly annoying and they put people out of work. I will stand in line, no matter how long, to have a cashier check me out.

--MC
--MC
11 years ago

in the worse possible way: went there last night to get a chicken gyro dinner for my wife and a burger special for me. I will miss the hell out of them.

calhoun
calhoun
11 years ago

Agree! I refuse to use them for the same reasons. I have read that some supermarkets have removed the self-service stations after realizing that many customers don’t like them, so why is QFC putting in additional ones?

umvue
umvue
11 years ago

…I hope it works. Broadway Market is a dead zone. A few businesses are doing OK there but the joint as a whole is underutilized.

ProstSeattle
ProstSeattle
11 years ago

The final configuration to my understanding will be similar to the Harvard Market QFC. So probably only 2-3 regular checkstands total for the store. The liquor is going upstairs in a location that will make it more difficult to walk out of the store.

JimS.
11 years ago

I guess they’re adding more because some people do like them.

JimS.
11 years ago

I agree. Now I feel bad that I never ate there, except for a couple of times.

Karen
11 years ago

I loved this place! They have excellent gyros and their fries are the best on the hill. I’m not ready to put that it past tense yet. Maybe they can move in to Joule! Too bad the Saizen (which was also surprisingly good) spot is so big… :(

Matt
11 years ago

I use the self checkout all the time. They put people to work in different ways. Somebody designs, manufactures, codes the software and maintains those self checkout machines. QFC probably employs the same amount of people on hand in the store at one time, if they don’t, so what. Technology advances and makes jobs obsolete…but if it makes you feel like you’re doing some sort of greater good by standing in line at the full service check out, so be it.

jeromium
11 years ago

I only ate there once, but will miss having a gyro place nearby. I think the one that was on the other side of Broadway (name escapes me) that shut down a few years ago was better. But now we have none! Something in Joule would be nice.

As for self check-outs, I use them when I have few items and can move through quickly. Otherwise I prefer having a human check me out so I don’t hold up the self-checkout line.

douglasm
douglasm
11 years ago

No note about rearranging space for selling liquor, just cheese and coffee?

jseattle
jseattle
11 years ago

Wellll, QFC has been a leeetle bit slow in getting back to us and the only documentation we have nailed down is the cheese and coffee thing, but, yes, we should have mentioned the likelihood they’ll need to make space for your Peach Schnapps needs. Thanks for noting it on our behalf!

cnut
11 years ago

I’m sad, I’ll miss their Gyros and their breakfast plates, decent quick food for when I’m in a hurry and feeling lazy.

ProstSeattle
ProstSeattle
11 years ago

There is a small room behind the south wall of the beer cases that will be used to sell liquor. It will only be one aisle, not huge, and only one entrance.

lola lola
lola lola
11 years ago

I am very sorry to see Gyro World leave the Broadway Market (their fries definitely rocked my world…and the worlds of my friends), but I am quite relieved to hear that my “boyfriends” at Broadway Shoe Repair will still be around to repair my heels & re-sole my shoes for a good long while. I don’t know what I would do if they closed shop!

Local
11 years ago

Technology advances and makes job obsolete eh? Just remember that when you come home one day to find a robot porking your wife…

Joemal
11 years ago

Nobody was really ever there.. I thought it was a front for something.. kinda like the Mexican place upstairs.

nh
nh
11 years ago

Knowing that this place is gone brings tears to my eyes.

Tony
11 years ago

@Matt: Yeah, but those created jobs are short-lived compared to the ongoing need for labor in the form of clerks. Add to that the fact that these things are probably designed, coded, and manufactured in three different countries, none of which are the US, and you easily have a net loss in the workforce.

Juno
11 years ago

I’m very happy that I patronized this spot many times. I’m very sad that they have closed.

Note to readers: Don’t be a ditto-head. Try out eateries that you don’t see the herds congregating at. You might find excellent food and a great new regular spot for yourself.

I hope they can restart a new project somewhere else in the city.

Juno
11 years ago

The would make a great tenant in the new building opening at Pine/Belmont, something other than that pizza shop and Kiki. But I think the real estate community wants to make that area a posh strip of the city.

songstorm
songstorm
11 years ago

Dammit, I liked that place a lot! But yeah, almost never saw anyone eating there or picking up food.

There’s still that new-ish gyro place up on 15th, but I haven’t tried them out yet.

Agreed about the self-checkouts. I typically use them if I have five or less items and the regular lines are long. Otherwise, I’m more than happy to have someone “wait” on me. :-)

Rob
Rob
11 years ago

If they put up yet another sushi/Asian restaurant, I’m gonna lose it. Seattle is quickly becoming the most boring city in America. Every block is just a clone of every other block. Condos and Asian restaurants. Yaaaaawn! No variety at all! It’s time to burn down some of these yuppie dbag magnets!

CarnacTheMagnificent
CarnacTheMagnificent
11 years ago

Just like the eastsiders are proposing to gut the Bauhaus building retailers, east coast developers Madison Marquette ripped the heart out of Broadway Market soon after they bought it in 1999. The developers plopped the massive QFC in the middle, while pretending an urban mall experience still existed.

As the old Broadway Market was a prime neighborhood hangout & gathering place, this was a big blow to the neighborhood at the time. Broadway is only starting to recover from the wrong coast interlopers’ misguided actions.

robert dunmeyer
11 years ago

this part of seattle is one the most densely concentrated areas of seattle yet one restaurant after another fails. are they outlets for illegal drugs? do these businesses get city grants to open up businesses with flawed business plans or do their inflated prices, sour employees and flaky owners cause these businesses to fail?

it seems like there is no market for anything in this part of seattle other than places that sell alcohol. there is nothing interesting in this part of seattle.

ProstSeattle
ProstSeattle
11 years ago

Or could it be all of our rents increasing $100+ a month that we can’t afford to eat out as much?

Confused
11 years ago

How is that 3 QFC’s are still in business but little local restaurants fail? Who the hell is shopping at these shitty big box chain stores? It can’t be my neighbors, right?

A.G.
11 years ago

They were great. I hope they relocate. Nice people, great fries and good food overall. I am wondering what will happen to the guy in the hallway that sells handbags? That has always seemed like an awkward spot. I’ve bought a couple of things just to give him something to do.

edgeplot
11 years ago

I loved that place. Whenever I had to go to BECU (only to deposit a rare physical check) I would stop in. They had really good veggie gyros! With falafel that wasn’t bitter or crusty like most places. and good fries. NOOOOOOOOoooooo……!!!!!

Robert Ketcherside
11 years ago

I’m sad to hear the Mexican place isn’t doing well. Also surprised to hear it still exists. Used to be packed pre-QFC.

Robert Ketcherside
11 years ago

How many stores and carts did they get rid of? 8?

Alex
Alex
11 years ago

There are tons of people lamenting their demise, but I’ve walked by that place twice a day for years and hardly ever see one patron in there.

JimS.
11 years ago

Broadway market was already withering when they put the QFC in. But they made it worse when they changed the Fred Meyer to a QFC. And why wouldn’t Kroger? Why not take out your price leader chain (Fred Meyer) to replace it with your high-priced chain (QFC), if you’ve got a clientele dumb enough to willingly pay more?

traj
11 years ago

They eliminate jobs and, like it or not, the position is a skilled one where experience matters. I’m not as good at bagging or remembering and typing codes as professional checkers are. They are better at it and it shows, watch people fumble around with these things. It doesn’t save time!

Sad their union doesn’t feel strong enough to fight this :-/

calhoun
calhoun
11 years ago

JimS…agree with you, sort of…I never understood why QFC wanted to move across the street, and I certainly don’t understand how all three QFCs can thrive, so close to one another, in our neighborhood. Maybe it’s because some of their prices are kind of ridiculous… for example, many of their cheeses cost double what TJs charges for the exact same product, and their sea scallops are significantly more than what one of the best seafood markets in Seattle (Mutual Fish on Rainier Avenue) charges.

However, I do give them credit for stocking many of the same everyday household items that Fred Meyer had….the entire lower level is dedicated to these things.

HannahJP
11 years ago

Never did get a chance to try Gyro World out which makes me kinda sad ’cause I really enjoy a good Gyro.
On the other hand, I’m super glad the shoe repair place is staying.

In regards to the argument over the self-checkout kiosks, they actually are faster and more user friendly than a cashier processing your purchases BUT QFC (unlike some other store systems) keep cashiers and attendants on hand to help with any problems and actually don’t lose many (if any) man hours on their floors by having a more streamlined system for an ever growing, ever intensifying “instant service” industry.

Benminnn
11 years ago

Well now I feel like an ass for not eating there more.

AsherCapHill
11 years ago

Agree, ate their once. It’s pretty fake IMO. Kafe Neo is the gold standard for quick-service Greek food.

AsherCapHill
11 years ago

That QFC is open 24 hours. It’s fantastic.

AsherCapHill
11 years ago

You must not cook?

Joe
Joe
11 years ago

Someone at the 2nd & Pine BECU told me the Broadway Market BECU was about to go under construction… so, I’d say its a safe bet to assume at least part of that space will go to them.

CDRYano1
11 years ago

40-100 per sq ft per year… Bitch please this ain’t NYC!

Capresident
11 years ago

Really? They always had at least one customer whenever I went past. I also ate there often, not as good as other places in town, but the only place nearby, and certainly not bad.

n
n
11 years ago

I work in grocery and regularly use self checkouts. They still take a person to man. Jobs are not lost; the machines don’t run themselves. Even besides the person running it, they also take supervisors and bookkeepers to fill the dispensers for change and bills and technicians to service them. For just a few items, it’s a great solution. Myself and plenty of other customers like them. The old adage of self checkouts eliminating jobs is simply not true. Any decently fast cashier will move through more people per hour than any bay of self checkouts. I don’t foresee them replacing a manned checklane ever.

Funny how people who loudly complain about wanting to deal with a “real person” seem to have no people skills.