Cairo way back in 2009 (Image: CHS)
A small space on Mercer at Summit that made a big impression on Capitol Hill culture will be closing, its backers announced Monday.
When Cairo was founded 8 years ago, it was with a vision to create a platform for underground art by emerging artists, musicians, and curators. We wanted to provide a supportive place for individuals to hone and elevate their craft while cultivating a sense of community and warmth in a city that isn’t always known for its open arms. The goal was never to have a “successful” retail store, rather a store that could support the artists and curators utilizing the rest of the space. Retail-wise, it’s always been a struggle. Cairo is tucked away, with minimal foot traffic, and making ends meet financially over the years has been a profoundly difficult challenge.
The message from Cairo owners Aimee Butterworth and Joel Leshefka said they’re still working out logistics of when the storefront will be shuttered.
Born as an art gallery and transitioned to a vintage fashion shop and performance venue, Cairo has been held up as an example of the Seattle nexus of art and commerce. Now, Butterworth and Leshefka say they’ll focus their retail efforts on the Prism shop in Ballard. We’ll have to check in with them about what’s next for Cairo’s annual Vibrations music festival in Volunteer Park. UPDATE: Want to help keep Vibrations happening?
Right now we need to find a non-profit to take over some logistics of vibrations (mainly the insurance policy the park requires). This is all super fresh for us, and we don’t really have a solid answer. The park is reserved, but we could use help finding a new partner to work with our dedicated booking and event planning crew!
The funky E Mercer space has a long history of creative uses — some of them were compiled here by CHS readers in 2008. Around the corner, Indian Summer still does the vintage thing on Summit while, across the street, at Bellevue and Mercer, the old Harry’s Fine Foods in the midst of a massive transformation.
It’s really be great if these art focused businesses and like-minded people moved to Tacoma.
it’d actually be really great if closed-mined, small thinkers such as yourself moved to tacoma.
for a small, art-focused business, in an area of the neighborhood not known for a lot of passerby traffic, they stayed open for 8 years. and still have a retail location in ballard.
but, please, tell us what contribution you’ve made to the fabric of seattle’s culture and/or business landscape?
zeeble, i think you might have mistaken joseph’s tone. I think he meant, it would be great if, when these art focused businesses leave Seattle, they resettle in Tacoma. They might do well there.
I could be wrong, since I’m not Joseph, but I read this as if he lives in Tacoma already, and wants some of the cool business we’re fortunate enough to have, to be closer to him.
I have lived on the hill for almost a decade, and it breaks my heart to see the culture I moved here for rapidly loosing it’s foothold. I shopped at Ciaro and Prism (in Ballard), and what a shame that this neighborhood can no longer support businesses that business. I believe Tacoma is primed for a low-tech renaissance, becoming a low rent haven for artists, musicians, and small businesses. Where does that community go when it’s pushed off of Capitol Hill and Seattle entirely?
I am disappointed with how Capitol Hill has changed. However, I am optimistic for the possibilities in Tacoma, and I hope other like-minded people see that potential as well. I hope that clears up what I meant in the first comment.
Not to say anything against Tacoma– but there is plenty more of Seattle without having to move to Tacoma. All you have to do is round up some provisions, pack your passport, and actually look beyond Capitol Hill (or Ballard) once in awhile. Yes, unbelievable but true– there is actually life and art and stuff off Capitol Hill! (That even includes more-affordable housing– go figure).
This makes me sad. I’ve lived practically across the street from this place for 3 years and honestly didn’t even know it was open for business. I’ve literally never seen a person inside this place since I’ve lived here and assumed it was some wholesale business. Wish I would have known, I would have gone in and hung out! Sounds like a great place!
I literally went in there twice, but didn’t buy anything. So there you go.
I didn’t live across the street but visited several times and watched a band and a musician play there on separate occasions.
They have been open from 12-7 every day for years. Surprising that you didn’t know that they were open for business. The person working is often sitting right in the window.
Ehh, there is almost always someone sitting inside on a laptop and every so often on a Friday/Saturday evening hipsters are oozing out of the place for some show. Actually they are just lounging on the street, which I suspect is part of the problem…just hanging out not buying/spending.
Cairo hosted some great shows and had cool product, but it was always tricky to actually find out about what was going on there. Sad to see them go; that area is one of my favorite on the hill.
Oh no!! I love Cairo! I’m sorry to see it go!
Really sad about the news. Played some fun shows there, saw a bunch of great ones, and picked up some good clothes over the years. Bummed this gem is leaving the hood
Getting almost impossible for these artist spaces to survive on the Hill. I’m sure the brogrammer new arrivals won’t miss them much at all though.
Ah yes, there you go. We knew the xenophobia and demonizing the techie set would pop up here soon enough. It used to be that everything was Microsoft’s fault. Now, everything’s Amazon’s fault. It’s nice to see progress, but at the same time, it’s nice to see that some things never change.
Seriously. I live in this neighborhood and I don’t get all of the “brogrammer” angst. It’s an imaginary thing. It appears to me to be one of those narratives that unthinking people sign on to as fact and just go with because it’s what everyone else is doing. Sort of like “I hate my boss, cable company, mobile provider, etc. etc. etc.”
wait, are you (iluvcaphill) the one that lived across from Cairo for 3 years and never knew it was open although bands and musicians played there?
How would you know if brogrammers existed or not if you didn’t know that Cairo was open and you lived across the street?
Brogrammer is a dumb label, but because some people believe tech is changing the culture of neighborhoods for the worse that makes them “unthinking”? Get over yourself.
Tech isn’t changing the culture of the area. People are changing the culture of the area, as did the people that preceded them, and so on. And it’s always “for the worse” to those that have expectations of it staying exactly as they believe it should be; that’s just a sign you’re getting old.
This was once a working class neighborhood full of chain stores. Then it became a fabulous neighborhood full of funky stores. Now it’s a artisanal neighborhood full of high-end douchey stores. And the next group that replaces the current batch of people will redefine the area once again. It’ll probably be all sports bars and pot stores, and then the working class—who like sports and pot—will move back here. And when all of these crappy buildings start falling apart, costs will drop and the artists will come back from Georgetown and reclaim the area. Or something like that.
Privilege, I was totally with you there right up until you got to that “costs will drop and artists will come back from Georgetown” [and unicorns will frolic all over Capitol Hill again] fantasy. Yeah, that’s just not ever gonna happen.
I live about two blocks away and walk past Cairo every day. I never quite knew what the place was, though I did see a crowd there once or twice. I don’t think this fact makes me disengaged with the neighborhood.