Ready to open in 2008 (Image: No Parking)
After more than a decade providing Capitol Hill with vintage treasures it didn’t know it needed to have, No Parking on E Pike is packing up its Brooks Brothers suitcases of collectible oddities and moving its store online.
Thank you Capitol Hill for 12 wonderful years! We are moving online. For now you can find us on Etsy – but stay tuned for a future stand alone website – and who knows, maybe another brick and mortar in the post-apocalypse!
Follow us here: Instagram: @noparkingonpike
In 2015, CHS talked with owner Billy Hutchinson about the shop and its treasures. “A lot of times people are buying the story more than the item,” Hutchinson said at the time. “The stories enhance it.”
The story behind Hutchinson and wife Linda Young’s decision isn’t just about COVID-19. Hutchinson tells CHS he was diagnosed with cancer last November and while his prognosis is good, he is immunocompromised. Running the store right now just wouldn’t be safe.
“it’s been a tough year for us,” Hutchinson said. “But we’ve hung together.”
Hutchinson and Young opened the shop in 2008 while he was also holding down a day job at QFC. Their busy schedule helped shape No Parking’s seeming disdain for traditional business practices and the shop’s unusual hours of operation. Where the annual holiday Baby Doll Tree came from is another story.
The closure joins a roster of restaurants and shops that have shuttered since the start of the COVID-19 crisis including a small group of fashion retailers calling it quits around the Hill like vintage and consignment shop Le Frock which has shuttered on E Pike and youth fashion chain Urban Outfitters which has left its giant retail space on Broadway empty. Hugely upscale retailer Totokaelo also shuttered this summer just around the corner from No Parking. Many others are in the process of reopening like nearby Elliott Bay Book Company which must limit the number of shoppers it allows inside.
Now Hutchinson and Young have locked up the shop and will take No Parking’s inventory online. It is possible, they say, that No Parking could return post-pandemic. Given that Hutchinson also told CHS in 2015 that he would like his ashes spread right here on Capitol Hill, we’ll assume any new No Parking would also not be far away.
Meanwhile, Hutchinson says that the plan for his friends to stuff his ashes into hole-punched beer cans to be dragged through the streets of his beloved neighborhood remains on the board — “but we’re trying to postpone it as long as we can.”
No Parking lives on online. You can visit the No Parking Etsy shop here.
Capitol Hill and Central District COVID-19 Crisis Closures: CHS has tried to confirm all reported statuses. Please let us know if any information needs to be updated [email protected] -- LAST UPDATED: 3/23/21
Food and drink
- Little Neon Taco, reported 3/1/2021
- By Tae, reported 3/1/2021
- R Place, reported 2/2/2021
- The Wandering Goose, reported 12/29/2020
- Barca, announced 11/11/2020
- Suika, lease issues, announced 9/27/2020
- Juicebox Cafe, announced 9/28/20
- Heritage Distilling Capitol Hill, announced 9/25/20
- Amandine, closing 9/30/20 announced 9/25/20
- Bar Sue, announced 9/25/20
- Marination Station, announced 9/14/20
- Ha Na, announced 8/27/20
- Intrigue Coffeehouse, announced 8/21/20
- Nates Wings & Waffles, Happy Grillmore and the Central District Ice Cream Company, announced 8/6/20
Americana, Broadway, announced 7/23/20- The Lounge by AT&T and Ada’s Discovery Cafe, E Thomas, announced 7/7/20
- Bill's Off Broadway, E Pine, announced 6/24/20
- Stumptown, 12th Ave, announced 5/26/20
- Adana, 15th and Pine, announced 5/21/20
- Tougo, 18th and Union, announced early April, Yesler location remains open
- My Thai, 10th Ave E, closed but we're not sure when it shuttered
Retail and more
- Rocket Fizz, reported 3/23/2021
- Drizzle and Shine, BurnCycle, and Blue Sky Cleaners, reported 3/1/2021
- Everyday Music, 10th Ave, June 2021
- QFC, 15th Ave E, 4/24/21
- Sameday Testing, 15th Ave E, February
- GameStop, Broadway, 2020
- Velocity Dance Center, 12th Ave, will continue as organization but leaving Capitol Hill space, announced 12/4/20.
- Stock and Pantry, E Pine, announced 10/14/20
- Take 2, 15th Ave E, announced 9/30/20
- No Parking, E Pike, announced 9/5/20
- Ritual House, 19th Ave E, reported 7/15/20
- Totokaelo, 10th Ave, reported 7/13/20
- Mode of Fitness, E Pine
- Urban Outfitters, Broadway, youth fashion chain's exit began last summer as Broadway Market began search for new tenant
- Le Frock, E Pike, consignment shop announced permanent closure in April
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I loved No Parking – so many bizarro treasures. Hopefully they can find new life online.
A different scene entirely, but Juicebox is also closing. Support yr neighborhood businesses!
I LOVED No Parking, full of treasures and stories and quirky things. I will miss the baby holiday tree so much! Best wishes to Billy and Linda, thank you for sharing your lovely collections with us.
I got so much great sh*t there. Good luck!
Aw, this was one of my top two Capitol Hill stores (the other being Twice Sold Tales). I used to go there for my Halloween masks and Christmas ornaments. I’ll miss them, but I’m also probably more likely to buy from them on Etsy so I’m really excited they’re selling there!