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GETTING KNOW(SEY) WITH A LOCAL, INDEPENDANT BUSINESS

This month I am happy to present Sip and Ship, with locations in Ballard and Greenwood, the Sip and Ship can be your one stop for gifts,
cards, coffee, tea, snacks and all your shipping and receiving needs! It just
happens to be their 19th anniversary today!

Sip and Ship celebrates its 19th birthday this week!! Come take a coffee break with us on Friday, October 15th! ! From our flagshipstore, Ballard Sip and Ship will be proudly serving FREE lattes all day! Each cup brimming with foamy appreciation for what was dreamed up 19 years ago and what has become Seattlites go-to-spot to get errands done quickly, pick-up last-minute birthday gifts and experience the friendliest and most reliable mail and package shipping center in town.

What is the history of your business? How did you start
it and why? Your motivation/ dream for it?

Sip and Ship is all about providing a sense of community, incredible service and shipping choices to our customers.

What is your top seller?

Seattleites love supporting their neighbors, co-workers, friends and members in their community! Making our top sellers locally made Lulumière showe steamers and Northwest scented candle, Seattle Chocolates bars
with their nod to areas within the Pacific Northwest and upcoming holiday
season – making an impressionable gift or care package topper! Last but not least, our crowd-pleasing home brew bag of coffee beans in partnership with local coffee roaster Herkimer Coffee. We don’t know where we’d be without these valuable local makers, vendors, and relationships.

What is your favorite part of running this business?

Our favorite part of running Sip and Ship occurs from both sides of our service counters. Over the years, our team has become renowned as
providing the best customer service experience in Seattle. This is extremely
satisfying from a business ownership perspective especially when we see the
light bulb go off as each new mate is integrated into our service and teamwork ecosystem successfully. Equally as important is seeing connections and relationships that develop between our crew and customers. Often long-term connections that serve our community as we support and encourage our team to take with them our company values into the next phase of their careers and life adventures. We love having a front row seat to milestones in our customers lives and also being a career milestone for our employees. The cherry on top are the life-long friendships this business has afforded us from both sides of our sipping and shipping counters.

How has COVID impacted your business?

Sip and Ship was fortunate enough to be considered an
essential business to our working relationships with the postal service, UPS,
FedEx, and DHL. COVID uncovered a segment of our business that we were
experimenting with, our virtual mailbox rental services. As COVID advanced with directives to corporate and private businesses needing to keep their operations running remotely, or small business start-ups emerging, this increased the need for virtual mailbox services. Which also behaves like having your very own virtual assistant, giving business owners the flexibility to build and scale their business from anywhere without the expensive overhead of a brick-and-mortar office.

Getting Know(sey) with a Local, Independant Business

 

Welcome to the 5th addition of “Getting Know“sey” with local, independent business. I am a strong supporter of independent businesses, I happen to work for one, as well! Each month, I will feature a different business, my goal is to introduce you to new places within our community and I do hope you will support these and other local, independently owned businesses in your neighborhood.

This month we travel to Ireland, I mean Ballard to meet Billy Whelan, owner of 2 bars: The Old Pequliar and The Old County.

Before moving to Seattle, Billy spent 15 years in the bar business. In Ireland, bar keeping is an honored career that requires an apprenticeship. After moving to Seattle, Billy continued his career as a barkeep and in 2018 when the opportunity to buy The Old Pequliar came up, he embraced the opportunity. That went so well, that in 2019 when another opportunity in Ballard presented itself, Billy and his partners decided to open another bar, The Old County.

The Old County was undergoing a major remodel with the plan of a grand opening on March 17 (St Patrick’s Day), 2020. All bars were closed on March 16, 2020. The Old County was not to be opened as planned. During the lockdown, they were able to continue decorating and putting the finishing touches on the remodel. The “OC” as it is referred to is where I met with Billy and his wife Shannon to ask the same questions, I have asked of the previous business owners in this series. Here are the answers:

(K) What are your top sellers:

(B) At the Old County, the chicken wings. At the Old Pequliar, drinks!

(K) What is your favorite thing about running these businesses?

(B) It is fun! I meet new people, I work with good staff, and everyday we are sharing people’s event’s whether it is enjoying a sporting game or a gathering of friends. There are few jobs where you are part of everyone’s celebrations.

(K) How has COVID impacted your business?

(B) COVID hurt, we were shut down for the good part of a year. It was especially hard for the Old County as a new business. We are here for the long haul and look forward to making new friends and clientele.

(K) Is there anything else you want the readers to know?

(B) The Old County is the ULTIMATE sports bar and has ALL the sports packages. If you want to watch a game, collegiate or pro, you can do it here. We can show up to 13 different events at the same time.

Old County Bar: 5811 24th Avenue NW, Seattle www.oldcountybar.com

Sports and wings. Every game, every day. Get in here and watch your team crush it, or get crushed and drink the pain away.

The Old Pequliar: 1722 NW Market St, Seattle www.oldpeculiarpub.com

Just a good local Ballard Irish Pub. Whether you’re just out for a beer, to watch a game or to meet up with friends you will always feel welcome and at home at the O.P. Come check us out. Our motto is: “You might enter as a stranger but you leave as a friend.”

Getting Know(sey) with a Local, Independant Business

 This month I met with my friend and founder/owner of SMJ Studio. Sara is one of the hardest working peole I know. Her energy and enthusiasm for her business is inspiring. The work they do is beautiful.

What is the history of your business? How did you start it and why? Your motivation/ dream for it?

We are starting our 30th year in the fall of 2021. Before my business, I was a buyer at Nordstrom. My dream was to work in product development. I went to the Apparel Design program at Seattle Central Collage while I was managing at Nordstrom so I would be qualified to work in the PD department. This did not come to be and when I left Nordstrom, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. During the time of discovery, I was able to work with my great aunt make Jockey silks and blankets for the original horse racing community. It was very fun and a great opportunity to see the production side of sewing. While working with my aunt, I connected with a school mate who then connected me with a company that made bed linens. My company produced her line for 5 years while I was connecting with the interior design community. I have also produced over 9 lines of bed linens over the years and still produce two of them today. Once I connected with the design community, I was able to become the largest sewing workroom in the area for interior design focusing in the commercial side of the industry.

What is your top seller? We sell Drapery, cushions, pillows and shades with drapery being the largest seller.

What is your favorite part of running this business? Being able to see our work in the space and what an impact it has on the finishing and completion of the design.

How has COVID impacted your business? Being closed during the state lockdown had an impact. We couldn’t work for several weeks. I did design and produce a mask that we sold to the essential work forces as well as to the general public. I was able to repurpose the bed sheet fabric into a design of mask that is both very protective and comfortable to wear. This was a great way to keep things running. Some of my team was able to come back sooner than the rest. The other way it affected us was in projects. We were under contract to work on 5 hotels that could not move forward. We think a few will come back eventually.

www.smjstudio.com/

 

GETTING KNOW(SEY) WITH A LOCAL, INDEPENDANT BUSINESS

 Welcome to the 4th addition of “Getting Know“sey” with local, independent business. I am a strong supporter of independent businesses, I happen to work for one, as well! Each month, I will feature a different business, my goal is to introduce you to new places within our community and I do hope you will support these and other local,independently owned businesses in your neighborhood.  

This month the featured business is Portage Bay Goods. Owned by one of the funnest, funniest, & nicest people you could hope to meet, Sue Sanen. Coincidentally, I met Sue through Molly of FuelHouse Gym and we are both members there. Do yourself a favor, plan a trip to Fremont and have a meal at The Stoneway Café and then go shopping at Portage Bay Goods- you will thank me. And if you post a review of my services, you can request a gift card to one of these businesses! 

What is the history of your business? How do you describe
your business? When did it open?

My friend, Betsy Davis, opened in 1998 and hired me to manage the store. She spent a lot of time in Ireland and wanted to create a space to showcase beautiful Irish artisan wares as well as local art. In the beginning, we carried only handmade items and a lot of environmentally friendly products. In 2001, I bought the store because I love Fremont and wanted to continue to be a part of the community. I also believed in her vision of featuring local artists and I was excited about annual buying trips to NewYork!  

Over the years, we changed the trajectory a bit. I kept finding hilariously irreverent products and we expanded our greeting card and gift selection to reflect that. I wanted more levity… a place to take a break and not take ourselves too seriously. I try to balance that while still featuring monthly local artists for Art Walk. From there, we evolved into The Gift Shop for the Thoughtful Procrastinator. I wanted to have a shop where you can swing by on the way to a birthday party/baby shower/housewarming and still find thoughtful, unique gifts. And if you do have time to browse, we have an amazing selection of hilarious, sometimes shocking, always unique greeting cards.  

What is your best seller?

Here are a few to pick from: 

People are really into candles right now, these keep flying out of here: 

https://www.portagebaygoods.com/la-croix-candles.html 

https://www.portagebaygoods.com/copy-of-8oz-national-park-candle-olympic.html 

https://www.portagebaygoods.com/candle-i-fcking-love-you-endless-summer.html 

Of course, the coloring books and puzzles are still popular – these are probably the top ones right now: 

https://www.portagebaygoods.com/fuck-off-coronavirus-coloring-book.html 

https://www.portagebaygoods.com/puzzle-seattle.html 

Best selling cards:

https://www.portagebaygoods.com/c-bd-bad-bitch.html 

https://www.portagebaygoods.com/copy-of-c-bd-fishing.html 

https://www.portagebaygoods.com/c-bd-otter-birthday.html

https://www.portagebaygoods.com/birthday-card-fuck-were-old.html 

What is your favorite thing about running this business?

Hearing customers read the cards and laughing out loud. Never gets old.    

How has COVID impacted your business? 

Oof, we have been hit hard, but our inventory has a long
shelf life and I’m very optimistic about the future. We need fun and hilarious
cards and gifts more than ever. And we have very loyal customers which I’m very grateful for.  

Come check us out at
621 N 35
th St, Seattle

We are open 12-5 Monday through Friday and 12-6 Saturday
& Sunday, we also offer in-store pick-up and shipping online!

Thank you for supporting our small business!

www.portagebaygoods.com/

Getting Know(sey) with a Local, Independant Business

 Welcome to the 3rd addition of “Getting Know“sey” with local, independent business. I am a strong supporter of independent businesses, I happen to work for one, as well! Each month, I will feature a different business, my goal is to introduce you to new places within our community and I do hope you will support these and other local, independently owned businesses
in your neighborhood.  

I am very excited to present this month’s local business, it is a place where I spend a lot of time and is most certainly a very important part of my community and wellbeing! I met Founder/Owner Molly Kieland in 2013
when she was teaching a “Sunrise Bootcamp”. When she realized her dream of opening a gym, I signed up without hesitation to be a “Founding Member”.  

Molly and her staff have shown true grit, professionalism, and outstanding customer service throughout this last year. Talk about PIVOT!! Not only did Fuelhouse have to move it’s physical location during the shutdown, it had to build out the new space and keep it’s community moving and healthy ALL
the while being “closed”.  

Gym members were given the opportunity to take home a few pieces of equipment, then ALL the programming was moved online. Yes, you can
workout via Zoom. The coaches created programming that allowed everyone to work out at their own level and with the equipment they had and or with modifications for body weight only. Online classes continue, and the gym is open at a limited capacity. I will be so happy when I can workout without a mask… The picture is me on November 10, 2020 after finishing “Simple” of Simple and Sinister, a prescribed kettlebell workout. It had been a goal I worked towards for quite a while.  

Fuelhouse isn’t just a gym.  

From the website: 

We are a widely supportive inclusive community that REALLY CARES about helping you unleash your superpowers via expert coaching in personalized, results-based, and fun, group classes; making FUELhouse the only gym you never want to leave. 

We strive to live healthier and happier lives and we enjoy helping others do the same. We’re parents, couples, singles, young, old and everything in between. We know who we are, and we like who we are. 

Our programming is the real deal. 

At FUELhouse, you’ll find programming that’s as hard (often harder) than anybody’s. But we’re not striving to push you beyond your comfort zone, and we’re not trying to put people into competitions. We represent an
entire fitness family supporting you every step of the way. After all, the
stronger you are, the stronger we are. That’s just how this whole community thing works. 

We are family. This is our home. 

No Sweat Intro 

We want to make sure that you get on the best path with us based off your goals and needs. Why? Because you deserve it! We’ll have a free 20min. consultation – talking about your fitness history and goals, and then
get you started! 

https://www.fuelhousegym.com/ 

Getting Know(sey) with a Local, Independant Business: 2nd Edition

Welcome to the 2nd addition of “Getting Know“sey” with local, independent business. I am a strong supporter of independent businesses, I happen to work for one, as well! Each month, I will feature a different business, my goal is to introduce you to new places within our community and I do hope you will support these and other local, independently owned businesses in your neighborhood.  

This month our feature business is Maple Leaf Ace Hardware, a family-owned business in the heart of Maple Leaf with the friendliest and most helpful crew you could hope to find. I feel fortunate that they are located blocks from my house. If you get frustrated trying to find things and get help in a big, box store- head to Ace, they will help you with a smile. 

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Getting Know(sey) with a Local, Independant Business

Welcome to the first addition of “Getting Know“sey” with local, independent business. I am a strong supporter of independent businesses, I happen to work for one, as well! Each month, I will feature a different business, my goal is to introduce you to new places within our community and I do hope you will support these and other local, independently owned businesses in your neighborhood. 

This month our feature business is The Stone Way Café, a family-owned Cafe in the heart of Fremont offering the finest in quality hand crafted coffee & espresso, pastries & food, craft beer, cider & wine. Their warm, friendly staff aim to please and are there to ensure a most pleasant stop at the Stone.

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