For Rachel McNew owning the type of store she, and she believes the community, wants means starting fresh.
New paint, new merchandise, and a new name — Rove.
“I think Rove will be a better fit for Capitol Hill because our biggest focus is vintage,” McNew said. “It’s not just your everyday vintage. I’m trying to curate more fashion-forward pieces, which I think will do better up here as well.”
By the end of the month, McNew plans to open the new store in the former Fox + the Feather space at 1507 11th Ave. Continue reading →
There is about to be another empty commercial space on Broadway but this time the economic forces that are driving the closure extend well beyond Capitol Hill.
The American Apparel store at Broadway and John will be one of 110 stores across the country as well as its Los Angeles headquarters set to be shut down after the financially troubled retailer that was once valued at more than $1 billion was acquired in a bankruptcy sale earlier this month for $88 million.
“Founder Dov Charney charted a maverick path when he moved a nascent American Apparel to Los Angeles in 1997 and began manufacturing its cotton basics in the region,” the LA Times writes. “The company’s colorful garments and provocative advertising quickly caught on with young fashionistas.” But what followed was debt and, eventually, bankruptcy that left the dwindling chain unable to recover. Continue reading →
Ditching the corporate fashion world to open a boutique clothing shop on Capitol Hill may not seem like the obvious move for the father of a young family. But after spending years traveling in the clothing and shoe business, Jeffery Gardner said it was time to settle down with a clothing vision of his own.
Carrying theBig Lebowski sweater also has to be an edge.
After 15 years at Nordstrom and several years purchasing for major shoe companies, Gardner has set out on his own with his first store located in the former Edge of Circle Bookshop at E Pike and Boylston. Standard Goods quietly opened its doors last Friday — Gardner said he decided to worry about getting the word out afterwards.
Standard’s focus, as the name might imply, is casual and affordable fashion from American-made brands. “I really want to focus on sustainable brands, brands with a conscience,” Gardner said.
Visette opened Sunday — just in time for holiday parties (Image: CHS)
Visal Sam (Image: CHS)
Visal Sam wanted to make fashion her life and her new boutique Visette now open on E Pike, she’s making that dream come true.
“I’ve been in the corporate world for a long time, but I always wanted to be in fashion,” she said.
Visette will exclusively sell dresses.
“I’m a woman, I don’t want trendy — I want my own style,” she said, wanting to bring that same mentality to the dresses she will sell at Visette. “It’s going to be always unique.”
With beginning prices ranging from $100 to $2,000, the dresses on show will be of limited quantity but constantly being replaced with new styles.
Sam said she had long enjoyed helping to dress her friends, both men and women. She had many stories of them having success or merely receiving compliments based on her keen eye.
“Ultimately, I would love to have a client come in and say ‘Hey, I need to look like this,’”she said. “And I would know how to dress them.” Continue reading →
Daniel Carlson, left, and Aaron DelGuzzo of Likelihood (Images: CHS)
Pike/Pine’s entertainment district continues to seep south. With last week’s opening of the Chophouse Row development — where Kurt Farm Shop and Niche Outside are open and Chop Shop Cafe and Bar, Upper Bar Ferd’nand and Amandine Bakery/Empire Espresso are coming soon — and the Central Agency Building — with the new Lark (and friends) as well as Canadian sandwich import Meat and Bread — the blocks between Pike and Madison are moving into a whole new phase of gentrification where dilapidated apartment buildings, old garages used as art and music studios, and parking lots are giving way to ambitious mixed-use projects.
In the middle of all this comes Likelihood, a “men’s footwear and sneaker boutique” in the new Viva building at 11th and Union. Not that long ago, this was the home of the notorious Undre Arms apartments. Thursday night, the newly opened shop neighboringInès Pâtisserie hosted a launch party for the Spring 2015 Maiden Noir Buddy Slipper Sneaker.Continue reading →
As Red Light Vintage prepares for one last liquidation sale on Broadway before leaving its space and making way for Lifelong Thrift, another source of recycled fashion and style is settling into Capitol Hill. Nestled atop Jai Thai on the western corner of Thomas and Broadway is Revival, a “one-stop-shop” boutique offering to buy, sell, and trade an array of items such as clothes, furniture, home accessories, and and jewelry.
Though the shop has been on the block for around half a year already, it still is somewhat of a “secret spot,” due to its above-street-level location, according to co-owner and San Francisco transplant Ashley Busacca.
“People are like ‘I live across the street and I had no idea you were here, when did you open?’ I’m like ‘six months ago!’” Continue reading →
If you were around Capitol Hill on Easter Sunday afternoon and it seemed like church let out for dozens of fashionable Pike/Pine worshippers, it did. Pastor Kaleb’s annual Easter Sunday service draws a well-dressed crowd. Here’s what the Stranger tells you about the Capitol Hill preacher:
Pastor Kaleb gave his first official service in the streets during Seattle’s WTO protests in 1999. A carpenter by trade (naturally), he and a friend built two coffins (two adult-sized, one child-sized) using spare plywood from a job site and led a procession through the tear-gassy, chaotic, screaming melee that would eventually force journalists and the general public to ask, for the first time in a long time, why anyone would oppose an organization like the WTO.
This Sunday at the Century Ballroom was Kaleb’s 15th year addressing the flock.
Friday March 28 – 1:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Saturday March 29 – 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Sunday March 30 – 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM
Imagine a store where you are the expected customer. Where the clothes are designed to fit your body and your gender. Where you will be served by people who live to see you look your best.
(Image: Saint Harridan)
Now stop dreaming and come down to Saint Harridan’s Pop-Up Shop, where we aim to give you the best shopping experience you’ve ever had.
Get up! Suit up! Show up!
You’ll find the visiting shop inside Sole Repair on the southeast corner of 10th and Pike.
“I’ve completely sworn off dresses. Men’s suits were too big. Boys’ suits didn’t fit across the chest, and the customer service in men’s shops was humiliating,” founder Mary Going said about the decision to create Saint Harridan.
The company launched in 2012 with a boost from a Kickstarter campaign that resulted in $137,000 in pre-orders from 1,100 people. With its first line of suits ready for action, the company is launching its pop-up tour here in Seattle.
Some new light inside Pretty Parlor (Image: Pretty Parlor)
Pretty Parlor is celebrating its more than a decade of fashion on Capitol Hill with a party to mark the opening of its new bridal boutique, sewing studio and “Man Land.”
“Our boutique is basically Audrey Hepburn meets Judy Jetson,” said Anna Banana, the owner of Pretty Parlor. “The word boutique is key; we’re not a thrift shop and we’re not a consignment shop. Vintage gets put into those categories, but we’re not. What we really are is a nice boutique.”
The shop, which Banana describes as a “1960s little girl’s bedroom,” came about As the space had previously housed vintage stores since the 1970s, Banana decided that the Summit Ave location would be the perfect place to open a new shop devoted to vintage and locally-designed attire. In the 12 years since its doors first opened, this mission statement has allowed Pretty Parlor to carve out a niche among drag queens, burlesque dancers, fashionable twenty-somethings, and everyone in between.
“We’re not just a store, we’re an experience,” Banana said. “We have a shop cat named Vincent, we sell My Little Ponies because the name comes from ‘My Little Pony Pretty Parlor, a kids coloring table, and it’s all just a feast for the eyes and ears. The chandeliers, the parasols, and the wigs are all just like a big kaleidoscope of colors.”
Aside from the eclectic nature of the shop itself, which appropriately was one of the filming locations of Waxie Moon’s upcoming Capitol Hill web series, Pretty Parlor’s claim to fame has been the ability to outfit men and women of all sizes in style. The shop’s trademark mix of vintage and locally-made garments from designers like Jamie Von Stratton and Glam Cloud, and reproduction pieces from online retailers like Stop Staring and has made it a destination for what Banana calls “compliment clothes” as well as the go-to location for theme party goers and burlesque dancers alike, even beyond the Hill.
“As much as we’re here for the neighborhood and the community on the hill, for our customers who live in Bellevue or anywhere else in the area, we’ve become a destination for ‘special occasion dressing,’” said Banana. “If people are going to a theme party, like a Gatsby or a Mad Men party, we can dress them head to toe. So many other dress shops have closed down, and renting a costume is just as much of an investment as buying the reproduction pieces.”
Now, after the success of Pretty Parlor’s Etsy store, the shop has been renovated to include a new 900 square-foot expansion, including a bridal shop, an in-house sewing room, dressing rooms, and an expanded men’s section dubbed “Man Land.” With the new additions, Pretty Parlor is looking to become the premiere wedding destination for the alternative crowd.
“We’ve been rubbing nickels and using elbow grease to get the new space ready,” said Banana. “I’ve done everything myself, and my body is killing me. But so many brides are wedding shopping right now, so we needed to pick a date and get the doors open.”
In celebration of the new expansion, Pretty Parlor will host an open house to show off the boutique’s new amenities on Saturday, March 1 at 6:00 PM. Aside from being able to see the sewing studio and bridal boutique for the first time, Tanya Brno, an aerialist from the Atomic Bombshells, will be swinging from the parlor’s chandeliers to help give the event the proper entertainment value. After all, as Banana puts it, Pretty Parlor wouldn’t be the same without the experience.
The new bridal boutique is located at 417 E Loretta Pl behind Pretty Parlor. You can learn more at prettyparlor.com.
Malone will help you sort it out (Image: Closet Rx)
Whether or not you know the name Barbara Malone, you probably know something about her. For years, she’s been a prominent cultural force in Seattle and in the rapid changes of the Pike/Pine corridor. She is co-owner — along with her husband, Hunter Capital’sMichael Malone — of the Sorrento Hotel, where she and curator Michael Hebb created events such as Night School, Drinking Lessons, and the Silent Reading party. She’s also an arts philanthropist, involved in organizations such as the Seattle Art Museum, the Frye Art Museum, Town Hall, and SIFF. She’s the kind of person who probably gets adorned with such titles as “maven” or “doyenne.” Now, with a secret headquarters along E Pike, she’s starting a movement. In your closet.
Malone
Closet Rx is the creation of Malone and her business partner, Julienne Kutell. They recently set up offices at 501 E Pike, in half of the former home of C-K Graphics—the half where for years a sign facing outward comically requested that you PLEASE DO NOT TAP ON THE GLASS. (Tim Burgess’s mayoral campaign headquarters currently occupy the other half). The property was purchased by Hunters Capital with plans for an eight-story development and preservation project that will transform the old H.E. Holmes building. Continue reading →
