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Pike/Pine newsstand Big Little News is now open with bottles of champagne and 250+ ‘foreign and domestic magazines, newspapers and zines’

Big Little News, a Capitol Hill-appropriate newsstand and bottle shop from Pike/Pine LGBTQ nightlife entrepreneur Joey Burgess and Tracy Taylor, the general manager of nearby Elliott Bay Book Co., opened this week on E Pike.

How did two of the neighborhood’s leaders in civic and business issues come up with their plan for a first-time collaboration launching a new Pike/Pine business?

“It seemed like in the midst of a pandemic,” Taylor said, “why not get into print and open a small business in Capitol Hill?”

Taylor says the double down on the challenges of the pandemic and a “let’s work together on something” approach grew out of her work with Burgess in representing the neighborhood as Pike/Pine pushes and pulls on Seattle City Hall for attention and resources the busy but challenged neighborhood has faced over the past months and recent years of explosive growth.

“We’ve worked together on this neighborhood-y, city stuff for awhile, but we’ve looked for a project and this just opened up,” Taylor said.

CHS reported here on the newsstand project and the move online of longtime Pike/Pine vintage business No Parking as owner Billy Hutchinson decided as a cancer survivor he was ready to get out of the brick and mortar retail business in the pandemic era.

Meanwhile, it’s been a reader-ly era for Capitol Hill retail projects during the pandemic. In December, “bibliotherapeutic” shop — its titles are organized by topicOh Hello Again opened on 15th Ave E. And the local Fuel chain of coffee shops is in the midst of a bookish makeover as it becomes part of the Ada’s family of businesses.

With a twist on echoes of the past like Broadway News which shuttered in the summer of 2010, Big Little News carries magazines, periodicals, beer, wine, champagne and other small sundries and is boasting “over 250 foreign and domestic magazines, newspapers and zines” at its opening.

Taylor, who remains in her role as GM at Elliott Bay and is a major reader, provided an eclectic mix of recommendations including the “phenomenal” The Dog magazine (a “magazine for smart owners” — “You don’t even have to have a dog to appreciate it,” Taylor says) and Playgirl.

“This year, I’ve read fewer books. I’ve listened to more books. For me, it’s been an attention span thing,” Taylor says. “Magazines kind of fill that niche that’s not a Tweet.”

Big Little News is now open 11 AM to 7 PM daily at 1102 E Pike. You can learn more at biglittlenews.com.

 

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Patty
Patty
3 years ago

Awesome! I am going to check it out this weekend. Thank you for the update!