Pike/Pine’s Excelsior development was named for the Excelsior Motorcycle and Bicycle Company that at one time called its corner home (Image: Excelsior Apartments)

The Valencia Street shop (Image: Taylor Stitch)

Taylor Stitch is preparing to open its first store outside the Bay Area on Seattle’s Capitol Hill.

City permits show plans for the new shop in the massive Excelsior mixed-use development on E Pine just above downtown where it will join a mix of retailers including the likes of Warby Parker, fellow fashion retailer Marine Layer, Aesop skincare, and a Seattle outlet of California’s The Pressed Juicery.

The block of retailers and businesses that call the 300 block of E Pine home in 2020 would likely amaze and confound any Capitol Hill resident of 1999. Continue reading →

Streetwear and events shop Mediums Collective is celebrating its first year of business on Capitol Hill Friday night with fashion and a Dia de los Muertos party.

CHS reported here on the new venture from brothers Roger and Cesar Maldonado who have blended Latino culture, streetwear fashion, and E Pike loyalty into a new business helping to shift Pike/Pine retail.

Friday’s party will be representative of what Mediums is all about with plans for DJ dancing and fashion runway action in the middle of E Pike’s street scene.

It should also help keep the block active with a lull in the action next door as Mediums neighbor HoneyHole has gone unexpectedly quiet.

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(Image: Mediums Collective)

(Image: Mediums Collective)

There is a new style and new energy joining the mix of small independent retailers growing on Capitol Hill’s E Pike.

“It’s very vibrant,” Roger Maldonado tells CHS. “Us moving there, we’re making it even more vibrant. We’re open late, play music… it feels more like a safe environment when people are out.”

Brothers Roger and Cesar Maldonado have opened a permanent home for their streetwear and events brand Mediums Collective in the midst of the mix of E Pike small businesses including some longtime neighborhood classics like Doghouse Leathers, Babeland, and the Stitches fabric shop. Newbies like mushroom fashion (yes, mushroom fashion) provider Sporelust! are now adding another layer of good times and shopping to the street.

Roger Maldonado tells CHS Capitol Hill was a natural home for the first store for Mediums after the brand has grown through pop-ups and street markets with many of the events taking place around the Hill. The neighborhood’s fashions also are a natural fit. Continue reading →

(Image: Buck Mason)

While there remain plenty of papered over and boarded up shop windows from the depths of the pandemic slowdown, the draw of Capitol Hill’s younger and increasingly wealthy demographics and its proximity to the city’s downtown core continues to be strong enough to attract new ventures and nationwide brands.

On E Pine, a pandemic-emptied retail spot has reopened on the E Pine block of the massive Excelsior Apartments development where “American classic” fashion purveyor Buck Mason is now resident: Continue reading →

A Frankie4 shop Down Under (Image: Frankie4 Shoes)

Global brands big and small continue to dabble in retail experiments and new concepts in Pike/Pine. The latest will be rapidly growing Frankie4 Shoes as the Australian fashion footwear designer plans to open its first U.S. “concept store” later this year on E Pine.

Permits for the shop show it taking the corner space at 501 E Pine with a classic Capitol Hill recent retail history — ventures including the shuttered anarchist co-op Black Coffee and a shop for the PUBLIC Bikes startup that closed after just under two years of business.

The new store will neighbor the Raygun Lounge. CHS checked in with the game shop and arcade as the popular hangout struggled through COVID-19 restrictions. It has now fully reopened.

UPDATE: Business Operations Manager for Frankie4’s Madeline Losee tells CHS the Capitol Hill location will also be home the company’s U.S. headquarters with office space and a customer support call center. The company’s Australian leadership chose Seattle, Losee said, due to the “innovative nature of the city” and it “marriage of culture and style” based around a growing number of outdoor and adventure brands.

“It’s a perfect fit,” Losee said.

The headquarters and store will bring new activity to the building and some new jobs to the neighborhood — Losee says they are hiring for retail and call center positions.

The store will debut in September with a soft opening and “private fittings” for customers in the new space designed as “a beautiful showcase with natural wood and plants,” Losee says,” and a focus on “a personalized experience for these customers” and “everything they need for better foot health.”

Frankie4 Shoes has grown from its Australian roots with a focus on footwear fashion grounded in “Podiatrist-designed support.” Continue reading →