Scent blending at Elm (Image: Elm Candle Bar)
An investment in a version of Pike/Pine that never really took shape has called it quits.
Elm Candle Bar has closed on E Pike.
CHS reported here on the family venture bringing the candle making and event business to this stretch of Capitol Hill’s nightlife core in 2019.
It says something about COVID-19 and the slow transition from the pandemic that Elm was actually part of the street for seven years. A lot of Pike/Pine regulars may have never gone inside.
Elm had its fans.
“Since Nov 2019, we have loved having friends, family, Cap Hill neighbors and tourists come in and create something magical with us,” Elm’s owners posted about the closure. “We are extremely proud of what we have accomplished with this location and the standard that our Seattle team has set for all of our locations to come.”
You can still visit Elm in Tacoma and, now, in Woodinville.
The easy story of changing Pike/Pine is that Elm filled a space that was once home to the High Voltage music shop. Before you shout, “Capitol Hill is dead!,” note that Canadian eye fashion chain Ollie Quinn actually replaced the music gear shop before it eventually gave way to the candle making studio.
From the listing for the suite
Better, more recent proof of the neighborhood’s demise can be found a few blocks away where a couch shop called Couch replaced the Rhino Room.
Now you can go ahead and yell.
What’s next for the candle bar space?
The suite neighbors Drip Tea’s Capitol Hill street fashion venture the Sadō Room boutique and is pretty much front and center on one of the busiest nightlife blocks in the city — and center stage in the summer’s Capitol Hill Block Party festival.
Lease materials (PDF) for the Hayden Building berth describe a 1,200-square-foot “rare retail availability in the heart of the Pike/Pine corridor,” “Ideal for boutique retail use” in a “character-filled space” with “exposed brick walls, wood floors and high ceilings.” Sorry, no restaurant, bar or night club use allowed.
Rent is $5,029.67 per month including triple net.
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