Tag Archives: melrose market

Next week, a first-ever ‘Spring Fashion Walk’ will connect 50+ Pike/Pine businesses

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“An immersive art experience by LA Wiltbank in the freight elevator” will be part of the Chophouse Row end of things (Image: LA Wiltbank )

Capitol Hill developer Liz Dunn, Chophouse Row, Melrose Market, and the crew behind event organizers On The Block are leading a new effort around Pike/Pine fashion and small businesses. CHS is giving you some early notice to give you time to work on your outfit.

The inaugural Pike/Pine Social: Spring Fashion Walk will take place Saturday and Sunday, May 17th and 18th at Melrose Market, 11th Ave’s Chophouse Row, and up and down Pike and Pine at the neighborhood’s shops, restaurants, and “creative spaces.”

“What makes Pike/Pine special is its texture and grit—the layered history you feel in both the physical architecture and the spirit of the shops and restaurants,” Dunn writes in a guest editorial in Seattle Business Magazine (PDF) setting up the new event.

“Seattle’s culture is not something that exists just for us to consume; we are all participants in shaping it.” Continue reading →

Capitol Hill’s Cafe Suliman has suddenly closed — UPDATE: Planning reopening

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Just as it was being celebrated for its excellence by the prestigious James Beard Foundation, Capitol Hill’s Cafe Suliman has suddenly closed amid reports of financial issues and employees going unpaid.

Ownership around the cafe and its Melrose Market sibling Cantina Sauvage have not announced the shutdown or publicly addressed issues including text messages provided to CHS that describe long-term financial issues around Ahmed Suliman’s cafe that have left employees in the lurch.

Suliman has not responded to multiple inquiries from CHS. Cantina Sauvage’s Marc Papineau, who partnered with Suliman to open the cafe and a natural wine shop inside Melrose Market, has also not responded to the issues. Continue reading →

Capitol Hill butcher Rain Shadow Meats loses lease at Melrose Market

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(Image: Rain Shadow Meats)

 (Image: Rain Shadow Meats)

The end of 2026 will bring the end of neighborhood butcher Rain Shadow Meats inside Capitol Hill’s Melrose Market.

One of the original tenants of the famed Capitol Hill market, Rain Shadow has lost its lease and plans to close its Melrose Market butcher shop — and hopefully find a new home – before its deal runs out in December, founder and owner Russ Flint announced Sunday night.

“Almost to the date I opened for business—April 23, 2010—here we are, 16 years later, at a crossroads. My lease is expiring, and the landlord has chosen not to allow me to re-sign and remain a tenant in Melrose Market,” Flint said in the announcement.

“When I opened the shop, I was 30 years old, and the thought of losing my lease never even crossed my mind. Alas, here we are.” Continue reading →

2026 Capitol Hill and Central District James Beard semifinalists: Cafe Suliman, Temple Pastries, Ramie, and Surrell

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(Image: Cafe Suliman)

(Image: Cafe Suliman)

The talented food and drink creators behind a Levantine flavored cafe inside Melrose Market, a Central District bakery, elevated Vietnamese on 14th Ave, and an E Madison house dedicated to “modern Pacific” fine dining have been honored as semifinalists in the annual James Beard Awards.

The announcement of the semifinalist lists is the first step in what has grown into an expanded process for the foundation’s awards. Final nominees will be announced in March with winners celebrated in June.

By then, you will have hopefully paid a visit or two to these Capitol Hill and Central District honorees. Continue reading →

With Eggslut coming to Melrose Market, breakfast sandwiches are hot stuff on Capitol Hill

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(Image: Eggslut)

Eggslut already has a location on Melrose in Los Angeles — Las Vegas, Tokyo, Seoul, Kuwait, and London, too.

Soon the hyped breakfast sandwich chain will be in Seattle at Capitol Hill’s Melrose Market.

Permits have been issued for the buildout for the latest location in the “chef driven” company.

The price of eggs may be soaring but Eggslut hasn’t slowed down after growing from an L.A. food truck into a dozen high profile locations worldwide. Continue reading →

A new wave of activity in Capitol Hill’s Melrose Market includes plans for Wild Cherry Nightclub and Harry’s Good Times

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Wild Cherry from the folks at Bellevue’s Forum Social House is in the works beneath the Market (Image: Forum Social House)

Hagood will soon be serving inside Melrose Market (Image: Harry’s Fine Foods)

Five years after its sale to a national shopping center developer and emerging from the pandemic. Capitol Hill’s Melrose Market is hitting a second stride with a mix of new tenants that will include a new restaurant in the old Sitka and Spruce space and a basement level Wild Cherry Nightclub.

A local success story will fill the former Sitka and Spruce. Harry’s Good Times, a project from Julian Hagood and the Harry’s Fine Food folks, is taking shape in the back of Melrose Market’s main level with plans for a new concept from the crew that reshaped a Bellevue Ave cornershop into Harry’s Fine Foods, the 2016-born center of a family of food and drink and hospitality businesses on Capitol Hill and across the city. Continue reading →

After 12 years at Melrose Market, Butter Home finds a new Capitol Hill home in Chophouse Row

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(Image: Butter Home)

Butter Home, a woman-owned brick-and-mortar store known for its unique and functional products, is relocating from Melrose Market to Chophouse Row on 11th and Pike. The new location is just a 13 minute walk, eight blocks away.

Claire Corley opened Butter Home 12 years ago. She says that her background in retail and her husband’s small business experience made the process of opening her own store less daunting.

“I really wanted to find a way to connect artists and independent makers with the community,” Corley said.

Butter Home shifted and flowed into available space over its 12 years at Melrose Market, an indoor food and retail market on Capitol Hill’s west side. They occupied two different spaces within the market for six years each. The first location was a small loft and according to Corley, they did not have the experience to know what they needed to succeed in the space.

Things are more clear now. According to Corley, the opportunity for Butter Home to move into the new location at Chophouse Row arose during COVID, as the previous tenant, florist shop Marigold & Mint, had permanently closed. This allowed Butter Home to design and build the space with their specific needs in mind.

“The company that is doing the buildout for the space, Vertical Ledge, they’ve made kind of modular birch popup pieces for retail people that do pop ups, and they’re launching a line for retail stores, and this is going to be kind of a beta project for them,” said Corley. Continue reading →

After three years as a ‘pop-up,’ Sankaku Japanese Onigiri Cafe and Bar here to stay at Melrose Market

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(Image: Sansuka)

In 2019, Japanese food pop-up Sankaku had aspirations to become a permanent part of Capitol Hill. At the start of 2022, Sankaku announced that it is planning to expand into those dreams in the Melrose Market.

Still getting acquainted with running a full-time business, Sankaku owner Rie Otsuka told CHS that she is ready to kick the year off strong; however, due to current conditions surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic, Otsuka is fine settling for a slower pace. The less lively crowds of Melrose Market are a time for Otsuka’s business to develop a tight-knit community.

“It’s really quiet and a very scary time,” Otsuka said. “In general, in January, I just want to take time to figure things out so it’s a quiet time to fit in.” Continue reading →

CHS Pics | Sea Rose Knifeworks, Japanese water stones, and leather strops at Melrose Market

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As the cost of doing business on Capitol Hill keeps climbing, many of the new faces in ventures of commerce and creativity in the neighborhood make their presence felt in short-term stays and creative use of space.

Saturday, knife expert Sasha Rosenfeld brought his Sea Rose Knifeworks to Capitol Hill’s Melrose Market for a day of grinding and shaving, with knives “sharpened by hand on Japanese water stones and finished on leather strops.” Continue reading →

Japanese rice balls and natural wine at Sankaku and Marseille a match made in Melrose Market

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Brandin Myett and Rie Otsuka at Melrose Market (Image: Margo Vansynghel)

Strings of red paper lanterns, some emblazoned with golden Chinese characters, hang from the ceiling. In the distance, a harmonica tune floats through the late-lunch atmosphere at Melrose Market, the indoor food and design mart also home to Sitka and Spruce and Glasswing. On the white marble countertop of Marseille, a wine bar and eatery named after the French port city, three carefully crafted onigiri Japanese rice balls sit under a bell glass.

Sure, we’ve heard of fusion before, but what is going on here?

“A coincidence,” says Brandin Myett, owner of Marseille. “A Lunar New Year office party planned for February 5th got rescheduled because of the snow. We decided to leave the lanterns up in the meantime.”

Myett opened his new natural wine bar and eatery last spring. The name, he says, is just a reference to something beautiful but rough-around-the-edges, like Marseille. “The French connection is not that important.” Continue reading →