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The 2,000-square-foot store dubbed Seattle Roast Coffee Shop is on pace to open by mid-September.
SBJ photo by Geoff Pickle
The 2,000-square-foot store dubbed Seattle Roast Coffee Shop is on pace to open by mid-September.

New coffee shop coming downtown

Posted online

Last edited 11:55 a.m., Aug. 18, 2020

Morris Dock has enjoyed a cup of Seattle Roast Blue Nile coffee since the late 1990s, but he’s had to have the product shipped.

The local developer is now launching what he says is the first local coffee shop to serve the Seattle Roast brand. It’s in the works at the southwest corner of South Avenue and Walnut Street – the former home of Bistro Market and a Starbucks counter.

Dock, who owns the 401 South Ave. property, said the 2,000-square-foot store dubbed Seattle Roast Coffee Shop is on pace to open by mid-September.

“It’s an incredible coffee. They do not have any franchises; they just sell the product,” he said of the brand owned by beverage company Ronnoco Coffee. “I got stuck on this coffee many years ago, and I contacted them and said, ‘Would you guys be interested in letting me sell your coffee in a coffee shop?’

“I sat down with a regional seller, and we worked out a deal. I’m going to have the first-ever Seattle Roast coffee shop.”

Dock, who also is general contractor for the infill work, declined to disclose the cost of investment. A building permit filed with the city includes cites an estimated valuation of $20,000.

He said he isn’t worried about competition from the other downtown coffee shops, adding he’ll likely gain back the traffic from the former Starbucks shop that closed earlier this year in the southeast corner of the building. Two employees have been hired to run the store, he said.

Dock said he’s still looking for a tenant to fill the remaining 9,000 square feet left vacant in 2017 by Pyramid Foods’ downtown liquor and grocery store Bistro Market. He said his ideal tenant would be another grocery market.

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