The retail pavilion is located at the prominent southeast corner of 23rd Avenue South and South Jackson Street, within a generous plaza that is part of the project. The kiosks were designed to be move-in ready, with electrical and plumbing already in place, and they share restrooms with the restaurant space inside the west building. Because of these elements, very little upfront capital is required by tenants, making the spaces more affordable compared to conventional retail spaces.
To find entrepreneurs of small businesses whose values and mission aligned with the community’s goals, we partnered with Seattle-based microenterprise development nonprofit
Ventures. Ventures leased one of the kiosks and invited small business owners who had completed their business development program to apply to sublease the space. As a result, the first tenant to move into one of the micro-retail spaces at 23rd & Jackson is
QueenCare, a Black, female-owned body care company. A second kiosk is home to an urban plant nursery. The founder of
bo͝oSH (pronounced bush) grew up in the Leschi/Central Area and attended Garfield High School and Washington State University. The nursery specializes in unique indoor plants and plant related accessories and offers something for all types of home, apartment, or office environments with prices for some plants as low as $10.