“I screwed that up so bad,” Gardner says with a laugh, looking back on opening day. “It was terrible. It was so bad.”
Coming from a life in wholesale that had him living out of a suitcase 30 weeks a year, Gardner launched Standard Goods in December 2015 at the location that previously housed occult bookstore Edge of the Circle with big ideas and what he thought was a handle on the neighborhood vibe. He missed the mark, badly, on one key thing: the prices. His initial focus was on premium, American-made goods, with shirts running around $120, a number that immediately felt out of step with the pocketbooks of most Capitol Hill locals.
“I had never lived in Capitol Hill, and I didn’t understand the clientele,” he admits. “My goal was always to cater to the people that lived and worked here, and we were pricing a lot of people out. So we had to pivot.”
That pivot wasn’t graceful; it was a scramble. As the only employee, Gardner found himself unloading inventory on Amazon, running constant sales, and posting items on Poshmark just to clear the racks. The takeaway was crystal clear: the neighborhood had his back, but only if he made it affordable.
These days, walking into Standard Goods in the E Pike location it moved to in 2021, you’ll find an average price tag of about $40. It’s something customers notice right away. “One of the first things they say is, ‘Wow, your prices are really good,’” Gardner notes. “They kind of expect stores like ours to be pricey, and we’re not.”
The reality of running a small business came to a head for Gardner in the summer of 2016. “I had a full on panic attack,” he remembers. “I felt like I was gonna die.”
It was a moment that forced a change. He started therapy, leaned on long conversations with his wife, and overhauled how they handled the money. “We budget every single thing, every penny that we spend. Because if not, we wouldn’t be here,” he states. “My wife’s crazy about it. Without her, we wouldn’t exist.”
That sense of responsibility doesn’t stop at his own kitchen table. “People rely on us,” he emphasizes. “Some of our employees rely on us for health insurance. Some rely on us for their 401k. It’s heavy. But it’s part of it.”
Independent retail and small shops seem likely to always be part of Capitol Hill even if the latest like 15th Ave E’s Haunted Burrow Books are treating brick and mortar shops like an experiment. The Haunted “pop-up,” by the way, just announced it is extending its stay on 15th. Economic and community factors coming out of the pandemic also seem to be driving new retail activity and creating new small spaces even as humongous emptied groceries and pharmacies sit boarded-up..
There are also a few Capitol Hill retail classics left including Twice Sold Tales which is coming up on its 40th year serving the neighborhood.
Vintage does remain a powerhouse here with the gang at Break Away filling two different Capitol Hill storefronts. On Broadway, Magpie Thrift has brought new energy to the street’s sprawling Redlight Thrift space.
Another powerhouse? Cannabis. The legal pot market is well-represented in the neighborhood’s retail scene.
Not everything is thrift, pot, books, and cute t-shirts. Other recent Capitol Hill retail openings include All the Best opening a pet supply shop in the former E Olive Way Gaybucks space, a wine shop run by a drag queen on 12th Ave, a World of Smoke & Vape in a former E Pike sex shop, and, yes, a couch store called Couch in the former home of the Rhino Room nightclub.
Global retail brands also occasionally wander into the neighborhood as an alternative location to joining Seattle’s downtown retail scene or the curated shopping experience at the University Village mall.
Some of the best Capitol Hill shopping can be found in its buildings that make room for the smallest shops like 11th Ave’s Chophouse Row which also marked its 10-year birthday in 2025.
The business had just opened its Ballard location in October 2019. Then, months later, the pandemic lockdowns in March 2020 shuttered both stores until that June. Business plummeted by about 40% that year, a story familiar to retailers everywhere.
Yet, the crisis only solidified Gardner’s belief in the power of a physical store. “We think that the future is actually in brick and mortar,” he told Capitol Hill Seattle back in 2021. “We think it’s good to zig when everyone else is zagging.”
A decade in, Gardner has developed a feel for the neighborhood’s pulse. He knows politics here aren’t just background noise; they’re part of the fabric. Standard Goods leans in.
“Everybody wants to express themselves in this neighborhood,” Gardner said. Best-sellers like “Abolish ICE” t-shirts fly off the shelves. Stickers, pins, and patches let people wear their values on a backpack or water bottle.
“They care about the sticker they put on their water bottle,” Gardner observes. “Or the pin that they put on their lapel or their backpack. They care about all that stuff.”
The mix of merchandise is shifting with the cultural tides. Right now, blind boxes are a huge draw. Twilight, of all things, has seen a resurgence. Items tied to Kendrick Lamar or “Schitt’s Creek” consistently find buyers. “We’re always trying to pay attention to what’s going on out there,” Gardner says. “We try to be good listeners.”
That means staying light on their feet. “We don’t just do one thing,” he explains. “We’re not a shoe store. We’re not a stationery store. We have a little bit of everything. If we find something cool, we could try it.”
Now with five locations: Capitol Hill, Ballard, Vashon Island, a kids’ store called Kerfunkel on Ballard Ave, and a partnership store in Naperville, Illinois, Gardner is quick to dispel the idea that he’s sitting on a pile of cash.
“I think business owners in general can get run down a little bit,” he confesses. “We’re so small, it’s like we make not enough money to live here, just like everybody else. My bank account goes overdrawn sometimes. We struggle just like everybody else.”
Gardner says choosing to now live on Vashon Island — which might feed into the cliche of wealthy Seattle small business owners with island homes — is about frugality and choosing a life that is “a little bit more financially palatable.”
So, what does he hope for Standard Goods in another decade? Gardner’s answer is simple: “I hope we’re still here.”
He knows retail will look different by 2035. “It’s gonna have to,” he says. But his fundamental goal doesn’t waver: to keep being a place where people love to shop, to give them a reason to smile, and to hold up a mirror to the progressive heart of the community.
Gardner’s message to the neighborhood is just as direct. “If you don’t find anything you like or you hate the service or whatever, that’s okay. But just visit every now and again. We’re super nice. We’re not trying to arm-twist anybody into buying anything.”
And the wisdom he’d impart to his 2015 self, standing nervously behind the counter on day one? “Control your expenses,” Gardner says without a second thought. “Cancel every order that you have over $80. Buy a ton of pins and stickers and coasters. Lean into pop culture and politics.”
Now, a full decade in, the store has become the very thing Gardner always pictured: a spot where Capitol Hill can see its own reflection, where people can say who they are without speaking a word, and where a sense of community still holds its own against the convenience of an Amazon box.
“We work so hard at getting people what they want,” Gardner says. “And honestly, that’s the best part of my job, figuring out what people want. It’s fun. When you see a t-shirt and you’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s gonna be good,’ and then it comes in and it is good and people respond, it’s validating.”
You can find Standard Goods at 501 E Pike. Learn more at thestandardgoods.com.
Full disclosure: Standard Goods features artwork by CHS photographer and reporter Alex Garland
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