The Living Room Bar lives up to its name; stocked with couches, art, a full bar and cozy atmosphere on Olive Way and Bellevue Avenue. The bar will celebrate its one year anniversary on Halloween which the owners Monika Proffitt and Clay Roach are very much looking forward to. Recently, The Living Room celebrated being featured on Groupon, one of a growing list of online services that allow people to purchase special gift certificates available for only a limited time.

“It has brought so many new people in, ” said Proffitt. That day Proffitt thought she’d be helping out a little, instead she ended up staying later due to the amount of customers she says came in. “It’s one in the morning and I finally sit down. This couple keeps leaning over and talking to me, I’m thinking ‘I’m so excited!’ Finally they say, ‘You know we live a block away from this place and it took Groupon to get us in here’. I thought ‘Wow!’ That’s just awesome.”

The Living Room’s Groupon deal gave buyers a $20 voucher for $9. The deal was available for one day in August. 665 of the vouchers were purchased.

“I thought if someone lived a block away they probably would have stopped in by now and sometimes that’s just not true,” said Proffitt. “Sometimes it takes Groupon to get people [to come in]. We just want to get the word out.”

Being off the beaten path in the former East Olive Way home of the now out-of-business Anne Bonny seemed like a dilemma at first for The Living Room but hosting events Show and Tell and a Trivia Night have also helped business, the owners say. Show and Tel allows a group of guest DJs to bring in music of their choice to share with everyone.

This month, the bar is adding a full food menu curated by Garrett Wolotka, a entrepreneurial chef. Food options will include tapas, entrees and catering events from his own business inside The Living Room.

In the beginning of August, The Living Room debuted their first artist for Capitol Hill Blitz Artwalk. “People came, they enjoyed it, it’s good for me and ended up being a good thing for [the artist] too,” said Proffitt. She is referring to her mission in regards to treating the artist (and employees) in a fair way, it speaks depth for modern business and art. Their first artist installment was a roaring success and The Living Room plans on continuing participation in Blitz. For more information on upcoming artists, follow the link. (http://www.thelivingroombar.com/art/)

One knock on promotion services like Groupon is that it can create a low quality customer base of people who float from deal to deal and won’t ever come back. While not the surest measure of customer loyalty, it does seem like the Living Room’s recent promotions have helped sway positive sentiment. This chart of the bar’s Yelp recent review trends looks like a 1990s dot com era stock.

Source: Yelp

By the way, you can leave your thoughts on the Living Room here in the CHS Reviews.

Beyond the promotions, Proffitt said she believes in integrating a great atmosphere, work environment, art, food and drinks into the customer and employees bar experience. A great reminder of this is a saying listed on their receipts, “We like you,” which is apparent when talking to Proffitt and watching her interact with customers. “My home is your home. Come on in,” said Proffitt smiling.

Currently Proffitt said they are planning a big party for their one year anniversary which may include a movie night, a DJ, a birthday celebration and events throughout the week. And, if you’re lucky, maybe another group buying deal.

Capitol Hill’s Bischofberger Violins survived a fire 10 years ago this summer that gutted the shop that had been a staple on Capitol Hill since the 1950s when it was opened by Herman Bischofberger. A decade later, it’s still with us. Now the store is run by Herman’s son, Kenneth. The violin shop suffered through that major fire a decade ago which put the shop on the move and forced the business to relocate twice. Despite the economy taking a major downturn in recent time, the violin shop seems to have settled in on East John just fine.

The white and blue house where the shop is located seems to be a facade to what’s inside. In the shop, the wooden floors match the amber colored instruments located throughout the two story building. The innards contain hundreds if not thousands of violins, cellos and violas in the showroom and repair area.  “[I] finally found the people who are most pleasant to work with. They do a good job helping people,” said Kenneth who works alongside two other of his employees in the back workshop area.

Even though the shop has moved on — twice — it’s obvious the fire is still a defining event for the shop. “Everyone knew when the fire happened, people talked about it,” said Ramona Barber, a employee and at the time of the fire, a high school student on Mercer Island.

The Seattle Fire Department estimated damages to the shop to be near $350,000. According to the Seattle Times, insurance helped pay to replace most of the lost inventory.

Kenneth said recovery was, indeed, about moving on. “You felt like you were walking upside down, a major change in direction but life continues on.” The store lost its one-of-a-kind collection of instruments, with artistic pieces in different patterns compared to the “normal” designs, Kenneth said.

For Bischofberger Violins, the song continues and survival has been encouraging. In turn, Kenneth said he likes to encourage his customers.

“[We] encourage an incentive to our customers try out and see if they like anything and make it possible for them. We try to make them happy and serve their needs,” said Kenneth.