Summer Reflections from Pike Place Market

Out here in Seattle we’ve clearly entered that special time of the year when summer starts to transition to fall, and we prepare for the next nine months of gray skies and damp days. But before we retreat to our leather crafting cave and get ready for the holiday season (more info on that coming soon!) we thought we’d share a bit with you all about how things went this summer down at our beloved Pike Place Market. 

For anyone that came by the market during the summer of 2020 and then again this year, you were probably as surprised as we were by the huge number of people passing through. Tourism (and cruise ships) returned, buskers came back, and fish were flying! And you can bet that Pike Place businesses were busy. After a challenging and quiet 15 months, it was a relief to see people out and about, safely enjoying themselves, and doing some in-person shopping. Of course the crowds were intense and the lines were long to get lunch, but we just kept saying to each other, “these are good problems to have!”

Like much of the world, we ran into some unexpected supply chain issues which resulted in often frustrating delays during one of the busiest times of the year. If you shopped with us online and had to wait a bit longer than normal for your order, we truly appreciate your patience and understanding.

While supply chain issues were stressful, we believe there is always a silver lining, and we were lucky to find ours. As we worked with different west coast companies to source leather, we found a few new leather hides to try, and it turns out, you guys loved them! So, now we’ve got a wider variety of plain hides to offer in-person. 

But most importantly, this summer was filled with wonderful customers from all over the world and every corner of the country. As a family we often talk about how working at the market is one of the closest things to traveling when you’re not actually traveling. Over the course of the last 18 months, while we’ve been mostly hanging here in Seattle, meeting people from every continent and every walk of life has helped us feel connected, engaged, and excited to come into work each day. We are so lucky to make genuine connections with our customers on a daily basis. It’s truly an incredible thing that doesn’t exist in much of the retail world, and we don’t take it for granted.

On that note, from bottom of our hearts, from our family to yours, THANK YOU to everyone that shopped with us this summer season, both at Pike Place and online! We appreciate you more than you know. And, thank you to those long-time loyal customers who didn’t buy anything this time, but who still stopped by to say hello and to let us know that their current belts are going strong. You guys are awesome and you bring a smile to our (currently masked) faces every time!

Thanks for reading and we’ll be back here soon to share some fun news with you all, so stay tuned:)