Miles of Aisles, originally uploaded by sea turtle.

It's rumor season on Capitol Hill. Last week, it was Elliott Bay Book Company pondering a Capitol Hill move.

Now, CHS has gathered rumors about a massive new Capitol Hill grocery store being planned that will likely dominate the Hill and command the lion's share of your Capitol Hill grocery dollars. A person in the real-estate industry with knowledge of the situation confirmed that a major player in the local grocery scene is considering a new Capitol Hill home and has a location picked out in the heart of the Hill.

If the project comes to fruition, it will be a significant development for Capitol Hill. The new store would join a crowded Capitol Hill grocery environment with no clear leader. The QFC inside the Broadway Market has been upgraded from its old Fred Meyer days. The produce section is expanded and the company hosts wine and beer tastings that you won't find in the typical QFC across the state. Broadway's second QFC down in Pike/Pine is more typical of the chain's offerings. Both stores are infamous for their near-daily reports of shoplifting. Meanwhile, there are Safeways at 15th and John and 23rd and Madison and Madison's Trader Joe's also keeps Capitol Hill pantries well stocked. As for Capitol Hill's indie markets, there is only one large player left. Madison Market celebrated its 30-year anniversary last October. 15th Ave's Rainbow Grocery went under in spring 2007.

The new store would likely eclipse all of these existing grocery providers when it opens in 2010. CHS is working to get more details before we reveal the rumored name and location. Please add anything you've heard in the comments or send e-mail to chs@capitolhillseattle.com

Benn Originally uploaded by fuzzirella

UPDATE 7:45 PM:
The Seattle Times tracks down Elliott Bay's owner and gets the details.

The owner of Elliott Bay Book Co. said Sunday he's considering moving the landmark Seattle business from its longtime home in Pioneer Square partly because of financial troubles.

Owner Peter Aaron said the store's lease at the Globe Building expires in late January, when a maxed-out line of credit he had been using to run the business also comes due.

The fast-approaching deadlines mean he is facing crucial decisions, said Aaron, who spoke briefly by phone about the store's difficulties in a tough economy.

Sales plummeted after the meltdown on Wall Street last fall, he said, breaking the store's already-tenuous hold on profitability. What's more, sales continued to decline through August, and he began to wonder if the store would go out of business.

Aaron goes on to tell the Times that he is talking with the owner of the Globe Building about a rent reduction and is considering moving to "elsewhere in downtown Seattle, Ballard and Capitol Hill."

Original Post:
A couple more news outlets have jumped on the Elliott Bay Book Company rumor bandwagon this weekend but nobody has put the pieces together yet.

• The Seattle Times weighs in with the closest thing we've seen to a confirmation from Elliott Bay that they're working on a move:
  
  

  [Store manager] Tracy Taylor said a move "is a possibility. We're looking into it." She declined to elaborate and referred other questions to the bookstore owner, Peter Aaron.

• Crosscut's Knute Berger takes the bait and puts the possible EB move into terms of urban development:



For Elliott Bay, moving to the Pike-Pine area of Capitol Hill could be a new lease on life. It could put them in the thick of the action for the next generation of urban development, in an area that is undertaking both a renewed emphasis on preservation and adaptation of older buildings. Density would offer the potential for more nearby customers and fewer problems trying to keep a struggling business afloat in a neighborhood that is wallowing, and that will struggle even more as work on SoDo, Waterfront, and downtown surface streets gets more fully underway. And for Pike-Pine and Capitol Hill, Elliott Bay would be a great catch, a major cultural institution that is a destination book lovers.

... (more)

UPDATE - 1:27 PM: Not a lot of new information though the Slog has now caught wind of the story and added some unattributed information about a resident of the building being 'involved' in running a 'card room' in the past. Oh and they also have the time of the bust wrong. But we can't talk given we reversed the number of women vs. men busted in the original post.

More info about the building. It's owned and managed by Capitol Hill developer Anne Michelson. She is also developing the 1111 E. Pike project up the street. Businesses in the location include the Wild Rose, Houthouse Spa & Sauna and the apartment units above.

UPDATE - 8:57 AM: CHS spoke with SPD's head of media relations Sgt. Sean Whitcomb who said he could not clarify the nature of the search warrant or the arrests as the situation is part of an "ongoing investigation" and detectives are still processing evidence collected during the raid. If we don't learn more in the meantime, some light will be revealed when the affidavit required for the department to get the search warrant comes through the county court system in the next few days.

Original Report - 8:37 AM: Seattle Times seems to be hot on the tracks of vice squad raids as they happen these days. They've got the scoop on a big bust that went down on Pike last night:...

We love rumors.

We love quashing rumors.

Got this mail forwarded from a neighbor.

The rumor: QFC Broadway Market is going out of business.

The proof: The Jello aisle is gone!

The facts: QFC says they're adding a "wellness center" upstairs and had to adjust inventory to make room. That means pudding deals for all!

Hey all - just a heads up.  Just came back from QFC.

 

Don't know what's going on, but they've cleared out a LOT of the shelves, marked the products down to firesale prices, and piled them into carts in the aisles.  In particular:

 

Ethnic foods (except for the TexMex and Asian standards)

Gourmet products

Specialty products (dietary, organic, vegan etc)

Holiday foods (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Passover)

 

I got sweet deals on some turkey stock, imported sherry vinegar, and Indian eggplant tapenade.

 

I'm hoping this is just spring cleaning (lots of the usual dented cans and overstock in there).  But judging from the dust on the shelves (and products) and some of the shelves they cleared, this might be a round of "the economy is tanking, and we can't carry all this crap anymore".  I hope not.

 

Odd thing though - they also cleared out an entire quarter-aisle of all Jello brand products (puddings and gelatins).

 

In any case, there are some good prices to be had, if you get there before all the good stuff is gone.

bummer, i'd heard a rumor at one point that molly moon's was looking for a location on capitol hill, but i guess we lost out to wallingford. maybe their 2nd location can be on the hill.