Makes me want to buy a couple gross of the Ballard Welcome's Its Condo Overlords bumper stickers and stick them to whatever condo shows up in the spot....

And lets see... Fremont to Ballard to.....

Georgetown? Hip, happening.
Back to Fremont? Do they fit there anymore?
Maybe somewhere on Ballard Ave? Could they afford the rent and is there even any place left that they'd fit into... except the hardware store at the end that is still occupied?
U-Dist? Tourist-a-pa-looza and students...

Nooooooo. Say it ain't so!

Well this sucks! I hope they at least stay in Ballard

That's where I got engaged! It's a doubly hard blow to me. :(
I officially want to picket when they start to build there. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

It's one of the first places I take out of towners. I used to go there at lunch when it was still in Fremont. And it's one of the places that I buy friends goofy birthday presents.

what do you want to bet townhouses are going in there?

Angelatini,
I am so with you on picketing.

Also note worthy is the boat dealer ( Jacobsens ) a couple doors east of Archie, also has plans to move in 2009. I can envision the Spirit station ( the one that sells $5.00 gasoline to nobody ) leaving shortly after Jacobsens and that entire block/corner re-developed.

Crap, I knew this was coming. Now where am I gonna go to buy my cheap plastic toys?

This is just depressing! I've been shopping at Archie McPhees since way back when they were at the Fremont location. I hope they can stay in Seattle, but with real estate the way it is, I wouldn't be surprised if they were forced out.

Reread the post folks . Archie's is not closing OR leaving Seattle, just Ballard. It sucks that they have to leave the neighborhood, but it would be a lot worse if they were actually going away, which they aren't.

The land occupied by Archie McPhee's and Jacobsen's is owned by one person and is being sold in the same deal I believe.

if more condos go in there that intersection is going to get ten times worse than it already is

" I can envision the Spirit station ( the one that sells $5.00 gasoline to nobody ) leaving shortly after Jacobsens and that entire block/corner re-developed."

Yes, I have talked to the guy who works/runs that gas station as my father-in-law gets his cars worked on there. He basically echoed this. He said his lease was up in a few years and that he doubted he would be there when that happened. It will be a condo conversion.

Now the question is...where is one to buy their "Jesus Action Figure?"

gee, I am so sad that I can't buy my useless plastic bound-for-the-landfill crap in ballard anymore...

F*ck New Ballard.

I will chain myself to a giant hand chair and attack the demolition team with Pez dispensers and Devil Duckies!!! We will not go down without a fight!!!!!!!!!

The neighborhoods we are discovering and loving are losing their personalities thanks to greed. I hope Archie McPhee's can stay close by. We love that place!

DUDE...so whos gonna stay and fight the condo overlords?.....David wahl you sell out!!!...why wouldny you renew your lease?...shoot..i bet everyone is ballard would chip in money to pay for you lease....

um, the land owner refused to renew McPhee's lease.

FOR the record folks: The Jacobsens are good friends of ours. They HAVE TO SELL the property, because they are being taxed on the highest USE of the property...drum roll....you got it, CONDOS. They do NOT want to sell their businesses. They are in fact 4th and 5th generation Ballardites who are being forced to sell their family business and all the property that their dad built up, because of the IRS and the Belltownization of Ballard.

Mr. Jacobsen started out as a paper boy with a paper stand on Ballard Avenue in the 1930s, and his grandfather had a boathouse on Shilshole. These people are being forced by the IRS to sell their property. They don't want to. They are Old Ballard; they have no choice.

The Spirit gas station is owned by a local Swedish organization, which has owned it for about 80 years. Interestingly enough, the first building on that location was the first real schoolhouse in Ballard. So, it is not part of the deal.

If you want to blame someone, blame the rapacous developers who are turning the neighborhood into canyons of condos.

Hope my earlier comments did not come off negative towards the Jacobsens. I knew the circumstances of their departure and was not blaming them. I bought a boat from them a couple years back and will visit them in their new Edmonds location.

Wow, I can't wait to see how the condo developer manages to land his/her financing...maybe call WaMu?

After the current businesses leave, that lot will sit vacant for years, just like the former Texaco station down the street.

Let me see if I've got this straight. People are angry that a business which sells cheap, disposable trinkets -- manufactured in China by people who work for next to nothing in a repressive regime -- is leaving Ballard. And the anger is directed towards future developers who pay a good wage to builders, construction workers and related industries necessary for development, provide high density housing in an urban area to minimize urban sprawl, increase property values, and attract other inviting businesses to cater to the wants and needs of the increased population, thus creating a thriving, vibrant community.

Yeah. Well thought out opposition folks.

Good point strike! Bring on the tanning salons, Subways, more spas, and maybe another Kinkos! Sounds pretty inviting to me.

I love the misdirected anger by the first few posters about how they're going to picket the new tenants.

With such clear direction and community action, its no wonder Ballard was easily infiltrated by the Condo Overlords.

why would you picket? it says nothing about getting kicked out so condos can go up. they just didn't re-sign the lease. if another retail store goes in, great. if condos go up, not so great, but certainly no reason to picket. and, really, it's only been there since '99. i doubt you picketed the old fremont location.

Couple of thoughts here...

Does anybody know the sale rate of the condos built within the last 3 years? With the economy as it is, I wonder if the latest round of developers and speculators are too late to the party.

Also, picketing a building site won't change much - but you can get involved with local politics and also use your vote wisely. Not endorsing in any direction, just hope that all choose to intelligently participate in "the process".

Lastly - my favorite Archie McPhee moment: my daughter was 6 years old when I first took her to the Archie's in Fremont. We walked in the door and she froze. Her eyes huge, she said breathlessly "I want my room to look just like this!"

McPhee will rise again.
The anti development folks don't really have an argument. Many of the new buildings being built commercial lots and not removing existing housing. What’s charming about an old empty asphalt parking area? Or a former Ford dealership?
On the other hand, I can see opposition to the town home clusters that are built in the residential areas. Those should be suspended.

You're welcome across the moat in West Seattle.

Clearly there are some who do not understand the cultural significance of Archie's. For some native Seattleites this would be a little bit like somone deciding to tear down the Space Needle and put Condos in it's place. It's a landmark. Personally, it still feels wrong to me to go to Ballard when I need a fez or a new Hindu goddess lunchbox. I don't really think the location matters that much. I also don't think that high desnity urban housing matters one bit when it's prohibitively expensive. Does Seattle really need more $200-300,000 condos?

@22: Who's taxing them like that? The IRS or King County Assessor? Their KC value's gone up 5-6% a year since 2005. That's not trivial but ...

Sorry to lose local businesses and all but ...

It can't really be related to "tearing down the Space Needle," it being a relatively no-frill retail location, and having only been there a relatively short nine years--hardly enough, I think, for its current location to be an "institution."

I'm referrring to previous poters who don't understand why people get so fired up over a store that sells cheap plastic crap - Archie's is the institution not the location. Read the rest of the post in which I stated that I don't think the location matters.

Anyone who thinks that all Archie McPhee sells and represents is "cheap plastic crap" has missed the boat entirely. And probably hasn't actually been inside the store, for that matter. Your loss.

Dang it, I've been buying fun crap at Archie's since they were in Fremont and almost always find something I need there for Halloween or silly birthday gifts. I just hope we get new businesses and not more condos.

archie mcphees, mikes chili, hattie hat, and the sloop are the funky little places that gave this neighborhood so much character. if we replace these with "the c-word" or more corporate stores (subway, kinko's) this will just be a suburb in the city.

we arent against change that makes ballard better, we are against change that makes ballard different than is use to be.

its hard to deal with all of these new people moving in, but i got over that. but when the people of this neighborhood are forced to move out, that i can never get over.

quite the spin strike!

Hatties Hat is exclusively emo hipster kids (condo owners) now during peak hours (just like the rest of the bars on the street).

Another victim of the ugly homogenization of Ballard continues...

This wonderful (Nordic) Community filled with its unique, quirky, and cozy (ma & pa) shops & businesses are disappearing.

How about moving Archie McPhee to West Seattle... near the Alaska/California Junction?
I think the folks in West Seattle would warmly welcome them there!

talked to a friend of someone that works at the window/door shop, and apparantly their fate is soon to be the same.

thanks Kim. Thats what I do for a living. But I wouldnt call it a spin. just analyzing what I see as significant logical flaws. Others are free to disagree of course, no matter how wrong their opinions may be. (a smiley face icons would be appropriate here, but I dont do smiley face icons)

Seems like a bad time to build a condo right now: The general economy combined with the large number of unsold units in the area. I think this was a mistake by the land-owners. Now instead of having to do a yearly lease (and getting rent), they are just going to get nothing as the lot sits empty. I can't imagine anyone serously buying land to build another condo in Ballard right now. It's a bad investment.

I've been living in Ballard only a year now, but Seattle most all of my life (except for a few years of college).

Yes, Archie's has it's downfalls in the cheap foreign made plastic toys arena, but it's not that I'm agonizing over . (I do love wandering through the aisles of the store though and just getting a good laugh, and so many times I've been able to find some elusive need for a project/party/gift there. I will miss just walking a few blocks to drop in.)

What really distresses me though is that we are losing the small quirky local businesses that bring Ballard (and other Seattle neighborhoods) alot of their charm.

Not to mention the speed with which it seems that in just a year, condos are flying up left and right: that all look the same, cost a fortune for a miniscule space and bring virtually no interest to the area. I know I don't know that's what's going in Archie's place...but, come on. It feels less and less like a neighborhood and more like I'm living in one big housing development.

Besides the fact that we just keep raising the cost of living and apealling to a small group/kind of people which will just contnue to gentrify our neighborhoods...more of what takes away the nieghborhood feel.

If we want to talk about cheaply made, small crap...i'm gonna venture to guess that most of these condos are in that realm.

"If we want to talk about cheaply made, small crap…i’m gonna venture to guess that most of these condos are in that realm."

ballard condos=archie mcphee's toys

can't they live in harmony?

Man this really makes me want to get a "Free Ballard" sticker. Why do they have to do this!!! Find some other place to build your stupid condos. Keep Ballard the way it is! Archie McPhee should be considered a landmark. Heck they consider a pink elephant a landmark!

I think it would be interesting to try to institute a historical use landmark designation - something that would allow development but also force new projecs to accomodate old uses or retail space sizes/affordability.

Kind of like rent assistance for retail business that is deemed of value to the cultural significance of the area.

Oh - and picket all you want. That doesn't help anything except break down the connections between new and old ballardites.

What needs to happen is strengthening of local groups, and outreach to these new folks to try to convince them why Ballard is such a great place -and what institutions need to stay.

They moved here partly because they like the character here - so why not engage them in helping to save it?

PS. Why can't Archies raise their prices?

If you live in Ballard, blame yourselves.

OMG...get the hell over my "picketing" comment. I am not LITERALLY going to do it.

I am sorry if you don't have a high regard for the store, but I do, and it's current location. It's partially because I got engaged there...first couple to do so, in fact.

It's a big long story I won't go into here, but it wasn't JUST because it sells cheap plastic crap. I am sorry, but I have memories associated with the store and it's current location, so regardless of the reason for the move, it makes me sad.

Gah... I didn't proofread. Sorry for all the inappropriate "it's" that should have been "its."

Yeah, Archie's come to West Seattle!!! I actually moved over to West Seatle cause it reminded me of the Ballard I lived in and I find West Seattlies fight more to keep their neighborhood the way it is and it kinda helps that the height restrictions aren't as tall as they are in Ballard.
Not to say West Seattle hasn't lost a couple gems as well....the Benbow for one, but they did get the sign changed on the Queen Anne Safeway they put in....hee hee.

Angelatini, I hear ya. some people need to know how to loosen up a bit and stop being so quick to find any little thing to argue about..

Thanks Valerie, if I said it to them in person, they'd certainly understand it was a joke. On the flip side, if they said that crap to me in person, they'd also see my reaction wouldn't be so funny. hahahaha

I'm late to the party, but relevant none the less. Archie McPhees moved to Ballard strictly for financial gain. They are in business to make a profit. Jacobsens not renewing their annual lease is a smart business move as was their offer for a month to month lease which Archie McPhee's turned down. The property will not sit empty and it will not be town homes. It will be a six story mixed use building with at least 100 condos and 20 business tenants. I am a neighbor to the property and and don't like the raping of Ballard any more than any other life long Ballardite Ballardite. I also have to say that Archie McPhees has been a horrible neighbor. They never have cared for the neighborhood or its residents. They have contributed to the congestion, traffic and greed as much as any of the so called Condo Overlords. They may provide a service and a product, but do not seem willing to repay the community in any way. I say good riddance as do most of the neighbors within walking distance. I wish the Jacobsen family well and continued success wherever they land and thank them for their many years of community support. Progress happens, growth happens. Management of growth and progress is where most governments make mistakes. Get over it!