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Station 7 boutique to join 15th Ave E in former home of Capitol Hill’s ‘last video shop’

Sorry to Ethan Stowell and the other food and drink barons of Capitol Hill on a seemingly neverending quest for new spaces to conquer — 15th Ave E’s old fire station will not be yours.

Station 7, a “really fun art gallery with furniture, jewelry, and home goods,” will open this spring in the ground floor of the brick building at 15th Ave E and E Harrison formerly home to On 15th Video.

“I really wanted it to be close to home,” Danielle Yoakum Tilden tells CHS. “I wanted it to be a neighborhood thing.”


North Capitol Hiller Yoakum Tilden is pairing with business partner and jewelry artist Jan Reingold to open the new boutique in the building with solid community roots. In 2010, Environmental Works marked “40 years of sustainable architecture and planning” and the group continues to own the 1920-built building that was originally a fire station but eventually repurposed as the home of Capitol Hill Housing and The Country Doctor Clinic in the early days of the organizations.

After the sudden closure last September of On 15th Video, CHS talked with Capitol Hill Housing reps who were coordinating the search for a new tenant for the fire house. The organization said it was open to new uses for the space but that continuing its run as a home for retail would be the simplest path. In the meanwhile, an art installation at the site has encouraged passersby to share their memories of On 15th, the last video shop on Capitol Hill.

For those who know their 15th Ave E retail history, Yoakum Tilden’s name might ring a few bells. But the first-time retail owner says she isn’t related to the family from the Tilden store that did business on the other side of 15th Ave E for nearly 40 years before the “difficult for children” shop shuttered in 2010. Ethan Stowell, by the way, now runs Rione XIII in the space along with Heather Earnhardt’s Wandering Goose. Yoakum Tilden says she did look at the long-empty 22 Doors space next to where Tilden used to call home but went with the old fire station instead.

Station 7 joins the 15th Ave E commercial village as more change gets ready to play out in the neighborhood. Last month, we reported that the owner of Central District marijuana retailer Uncle Ike’s, a CHS advertiser, had purchased the building home to the veterinarian at 15th and Republican and targeted by another pot entrepreneur as a possible home for his Tok I-502 shop. Meanwhile, construction of a new four-story mixed-use apartment building at 15th and Mercer is slated to be completed later this year and will bring more new business to the blocks. Business owners in the area have formed the 15th Avenue East Merchants Association to better represent their collective interests. In September, the group held its first ever sidewalk festival to celebrate the neighborhood — and do some important research.

When Station 7 opens in May or June, expect an eclectic but comfortable feel “mixing old and new together” that is born of the new business partners’ long friendship.

“We’ve been friends since the kids were little,” Yoakum Tilden said. Now the kids are grown up and helping launch the new store.

Station 7 is under construction at 401 15th Ave E with plans to be open by May if all goes well. You can read more about Reingold’s work here. We’ll keep you posted on when the Station 7 web site is ready for action.

UPDATE: Remember the Tilden shop’s infamous sign? A reader sent in this picture and says he asked to buy it when the 15th Ave E boutique was closing. The shopkeepers gave it to him.unnamed (4)

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20 Comments
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t
t
9 years ago

Sounds like a really nice neighborhood business. I hope to see more like it. Welcome to the neighborhood.

pj
pj
9 years ago

I hope it has a “SO BAD IT’S GOOD” section…

Chris Lemoine
Chris Lemoine
9 years ago

Nice to hear this and so glad it’s not one more place to eat and drink. Sounds like a great addition to the neighborhood.

Manny
Manny
9 years ago

Cool. I hope they can make it in that space with that concept. Good luck!

Rob
Rob
9 years ago

Just repeating what others have said. Sounds nice to have something different in the neighborhood. I’m hoping they do well.

rc
rc
9 years ago

I think it would have been better as a restaurant, brewpub, wine bar or even another coffee shop. Could have been really cool, sunny (west facing) outdoor seating in what is now an uninspired parking lot. You can sell stuff out of any building – this building begs for a use that encourages the old doors to be open and for people to hang out and linger.

dc
dc
9 years ago
Reply to  rc

While I agree that the building lends itself best to a cafe or something, I think 15th is pretty saturated with bar/restaurants. Why not a cool little shop? If it doesn’t work out, you can be sure a brewpub or whatever will be next in line.

Danielle Yoakum Tilden
Danielle Yoakum Tilden
9 years ago
Reply to  dc

I couldn’t resist….
To rc–The “uninspired parking lot” is going away. I hope you will all love the new plans we have for a courtyard. And wait until you see the old doors open….every day! Come hang out and linger.
To dc–don’t hold your breath waiting for a brewpub or whatever, STATION 7 plans on working out!
See you all Soon! We are so thrilled to be on 15th Ave E!

genevieve
genevieve
9 years ago

Another hooray that this will be a local retail shop instead of yet another bar or restaurant. Good luck to them.

And thanks for sussing out the Tilden (non) connection, because my immediate thought was that this was the daughter of that longtime 15th Ave shop.

andysea
andysea
9 years ago
Reply to  genevieve

Funny that was my first thought too:)

Riley d
Riley d
9 years ago

This neighborhood is in for a treat. I’m extremely excited for Jan Reingold to showcase her work in such a deserving space. If her wares don’t keep people lining up out the door, then her warm personality certainly will!

EstateSalePicker
EstateSalePicker
9 years ago

Would love a antique or thrift store on 15th. Vintage things and unique finds as opposed to design-of-the-moment jewelry and home decor. Hope there’s a section for that at Station 7! If so I will stop in every single weekend to see what’s new.

md
md
9 years ago

“really fun art gallery with furniture, jewelry, and home goods,” = overpriced bs for yuppie tech gentrifiers and their bored wives with too much money.

RWK
RWK
9 years ago
Reply to  md

Must EVERYTHING be fodder for more anti-gentrification rants?

Max
Max
9 years ago
Reply to  RWK

I don’t think gentrifiers (whether they see themselves as such or not) have ownership of furniture, art, jewelry and home goods. Like they don’t get to be the only ones buying that stuff. However, whether they like or or not, a good portion of the potential profits from this business are from “gentrifiers” (the thing is that’s who lives there and it’s just a fact).

Besides as “rants” go, the one you responded to is not nearly long enough to be considered a rant. And I think rants are awesome anyhow.

AT
AT
8 years ago
Reply to  Max

md, the folks making the furniture, art, and jewelry aren’t making big, easy bucks on these sales, neither are the store owners. The creators and store owners are often hardworking people trying to make a living at something that inspires them. Overpriced? Of course, some things are, but do you know what it costs to make products in the U.S.?

Mimi
Mimi
9 years ago

I hope they sell goods like the old City Peoples. That was a fun store to shop and browse.

Max
Max
9 years ago

I need to head over to that on 15th video memory wall and share that their gay porn offerings were terrible compared to video connection a half block away. Though they had more than Red Box because all it has is Top Gun.

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[…] spoke with North Capitol Hiller Yoakum Tilden earlier this year about the new life for the building as a creative boutique. “I really wanted it to be close to home. I wanted it to be a […]