(Image: Rain Shadow Meats)

Capitol Hill’s neighborhood butcher is now even more focused on its Melrose Market shop. Rain Shadow Meats announced that a big jump in its Pioneer Square rent and sagging business due to construction in that neighborhood has forced the company to pare back:

After five years of operation, Rain Shadow Meats Squared is closing its popular restaurant location in Pioneer Square. The closure is due in part to a significant rent increase, coupled with a recent drop in sales as a result of debilitating construction surrounding the immediate area. Business owner Russell Flint has decided to get back to his original mission statement by focusing solely on his Melrose Market butchery program, while expanding his newly launched Home Delivery Service. The Capitol Hill full- service butcher shop will continue to remain open with regular business hours 10am-7pm every day.

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Russ Flint, a Renee Erickson protege, opened his neighborhood butcher concept in 2010 inside the Melrose Market before expanding a few years later to Pioneer Square. Inspired by his previous work at Whole Foods and by a trip through Argentina, Flint originally sought out to provide great cuts to commercial chefs before realizing the retail opportunity of a space inside the market.

In 2016, Flint and other Melrose merchants said that a similar issue related to heavy construction in their area of Capitol Hill was also slowing business.

The purveyor and preparer of “top quality meats from local farms and ranches” persevered inside Melrose Market, however, and now Rain Shadow is hoping to expand its home delivery business. The service offers “selections from a weekly fresh sheet along with rotating prepared-food specials, meat and cheese platters, and much more.”

Rain Shadow Meats is located inside the Melrose Market at You can learn more at 1531 Melrose Ave. You can learn more at rainshadowmeats.com.