Exit133.com: Next To Nature Moving Uphill

Next To Nature Moving Uphill ( 7. May 2007, 15:49 by Derek Young) ~ Things Are Always Changing

The word on the street is that the Next To Nature natural pet food and supply store in the 1700 block of Pacific is moving up the hill. The new location is said to be the old Coach Hardware building on Tacoma Avenue and they’re renovating it now.

You remember Tacoma Avenue, right? We don’t seem to talk about it much. Maybe soon…

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Wow, that’s a big ass building for a pet food store…at least parking will be easier on our cat food buying excursions w/o having to jockey for space along Pacific.

1 | Posted by jamie from thriceallamerican | May 7, 04:03 PM

i agree. i can’t help but think this move is due, at least in part, to the complete lack of parking along pac ave. hope the move works well for them, they are a great store.

2 | Posted by comment | May 7, 05:52 PM

I was sad to see the old hardware store go. It was one of those magical places for even the hardware challenged like myself. I really like the idea of commerce filling in on Tacoma Avenue. The stretch between 9th and 25th can offer all manner of interesting retail and business opportunities. In the past Tacoma Avenue has supported a motley assortment of small businesses. A few destination type businesses like Next To Nature will do a great deal in bringing life to this area. We don’t have the terrific hardware store we once had, but if a few more businesses follow in the footsteps of Next To Nature, Tacoma Avenue could end up being one of the more interesting business districts.

I like Tacoma Avenue. Easy walk to Pacific, easy walk to MLK. North and south on Tacoma Ave. is as easy as it gets. For years I worked in the vicinity of the County City building and I never lived more than 15 minutes walking away from work. I can not stress enough how great it is to work within walking distance of where you live. Along with being able to walk home from work it would be very nice to pick a little dinner or groceries while walking home from work. At least Fido and Fluffy need not go hungry.

3 | Posted by Crenshaw Sepulveda | May 7, 10:58 PM

any idea what is going in the pacific space? i noticed the space right by ‘next to nature’ that was empty for a while was recently leased.

4 | Posted by snoopy | May 8, 07:47 AM

i am thinking about the u district in seattle as i write this, and i think it would be great to see something added to that space that would serve the uwt student population. for example, asian takeout, or a small market/deli combo. as a uwt grad, i think it would be nice to have an alternative to starbucks, subway, and taco del mar. i like all of those places, but variety is the spice of life! :)

5 | Posted by comment | May 8, 08:22 AM

The UW district has become one of the harder places to do business. The museums are not pulling the number of visitors they used to and the student base is still not there.
And don’t even get me started on The Plaza, The Wall or the looming major construction.

6 | Posted by Marty | May 10, 10:20 AM

Hmmm…just occurred to me…do you s’pose they’ll be including a doggy day care? That would explain the use of such a large building… Hope they keep the cats if that’s the case. Love the cats…

7 | Posted by jamie from thriceallamerican | May 10, 10:54 AM

The UWT/Pacific Ave. area seems better suited to businesses that don’t sell 40 pound bags of dog food. I think parking should be challenging in parts of the city center to encourage walking, biking, and transit, but one of the few places I almost always drive is the pet store.

8 | Posted by michael g. | May 10, 10:58 AM

I’m with Erik Bjornson, who argues that less is more when it comes to downtown parking. The downtown is at an awkward stage when a perceived lack of parking discourages people from shopping downtown, but continuing to emphasize new parking space and garages downtown doesn’t promote dense, pedestrian -friendly development. To me, having parking problems downtown is a good sign.

9 | Posted by Dave | May 10, 06:12 PM

at least parking will be easier on our cat food buying excursions w/o having to jockey for space along Pacific

I would not say parking drove the business out. If people want to find you bad enough, they will.

Yep. I think that’s exactly what the area needs, cheap food for students. Of course, one can’t know what would really be supported until they move in. Right now, a cup cake place is moving in. Go figure.

To me, having parking problems downtown is a good sign.

Having a good demand for parking is an extremely good sign. High demand for parking is kind of like having alot of dollar bills in your pocket to carry. It many be a challenge, but a very good “problem” to have and certainly not something you want to go away.

With that said, the demand is probably sufficient in front of UWT on Pacific that charging something for parking would help the area, especially merchants. The target occupancy rate for on-street parking is 85 percent and the area is often more full than that which is keeping people who want to find a space from finding one and causing drivers to “cruise” for parking spaces with people circling the block jamming up the area with cars.

There are other actions the city could do is increase the supply of parking easily. There is at least one street nearby by the convention center with no parking allowed (for an uknown reason) and other areas with unlimited parking. Making both of these areas 2 hour would greatly increase the parking capacity with little effort or expense.