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Women of Wallingford: Center of a Community by Fiona Cohen Photo by Ingrid Pape-Sheldon

For Kathleen Koch, a career selling handmade art began over 20 years ago when she tried to buy a piece of pottery for a coworker who was getting married in the fall. An art teacher by training, Koch moved to Seattle from Michigan in the mid-1980s, when schools were laying off teachers by the hundreds. She took a job in a framing shop while she figured out what her next move should be. The answer came to her the day she searched all over town for a functional piece of artwork — maybe a serving bowl or a platter — that she could give her friend as a wedding gift. At the time, Pike Place market’s artisans only sold their wares in the summer, and Seattle stores didn’t carry the type of item she was looking for. “There was nowhere that represented a variety of media.”

A year and a half later, in 1986, Koch opened Crackerjack Contemporary Crafts in a new space in Wallingford Center. The building was the former Interlake Elementary School, built in 1904, and converted into a mixed-use center for shops, restaurants, apartments and services.
So although she wasn’t working as a teacher, her career brought her to the same place. “I was destined to be in a school,” she says.

Koch’s store occupies an 800-square foot space next to the broad stairs of the building’s east entrance. Koch isn’t sure what function the place had in the school. “Different people tell me different things,” she says.

Depending on who tells the story, it was the principal’s office, the nurse’s room or a first grade classroom. Maybe it was all three things at different times. But for the past 22 years, it’s been her space. She chose the store’s name carefully. “I wanted something that didn’t sound overly serious or gallery-like.”

Koch represents more than 200 artisans in a store that showcases handmade jewelry, clothing, pottery and other handicrafts. Along with locals, she sells work from artists in Canada and Europe. You can find designer pajamas, pewter spoons and Tintin merchandise.

Over the years, the attachment to her new profession deepened. “It changed from being more of an aesthetic preference to a philosophical passion, wanting to really promote and keep the handmade alive and available.” She feels that she’s still an educator of sorts — teaching consumers about the value of handmade goods, and the need to support artisans.

Koch is one of many women who own businesses in Wallingford Center. If you continue down the warmly lit hallway of the center’s main floor, with its scratched and creaky floorboards that evoke images of the generations of kids who once spent their days here, you’ll find a number of other fun and interesting places to visit.

A hair salon for children, Li’l Klippers (open since 1988), is here, along with its companion business, The Edge, which is geared toward adults and teens. At the south end is Zanadia Home Gifts & Furnishings, another store offering an eclectic mix of beautiful things, including antique Chinese furniture, artisinal candles and other merchandise for the house-proud. Across the hall from Crackerjack, 4 Your Eyes Only Optical has walls lined with eyeglass frames from hard-to-find designers. Next door, those wanting to knit or crochet their own handicrafts can peruse the textiles at Bad Woman Yarn.

At the north end of the hallway are three clothing boutiques. Yazdi has colorful racks of clothing made by small-scale designers who use fabrics from around the world, as well as a rich display of jewelry and other accessories. Yazdi II has more of the same type clothing, but in larger sizes. So Much Fun Sporty Chic showcases its own line of slinky casual clothes for active people. Owner and designer Sabrina Hirsch moved her business here in 2007. She first opened the store in Hood River, Ore., but family drew her back to her hometown. When she was looking for retail space, she settled on Wallingford Center because she liked the building and remembered shopping here as a child.

Once the discerning shopper has browsed interesting eyeglass frames, jewelry or chairs, had her hair cut or picked up an outfit, she can treat herself to one of the prettiest desserts in town.
Trophy Cupcakes and Party takes up the middle of the west side of the center. Owned by Jennifer Shea, the shop features painstakingly decorated cupcakes in flavors ranging from the classic (triple chocolate) to the novel (red velvet) to the downright odd (candied yam). If you’re going to indulge yourself, you might as well make it extra fabulous.

A right turn at the bottom of the stairs facing 45th Street brings you to another gallery of well-made things: Amita. Store-owner Amita Gupta says her space is officially 300 square feet, counting the outdoor landing. It’s like a lush walk-in closet of treasures: scarves made by Tibetan refugees, vinyl decorated handbags by Queen Bee Creations of Portland, and jewelry by Amita herself. Gupta says she opened the shop six years ago as a store catering to Seattle’s Buddhist community, but soon branched out to offer different handicrafts.

Gupta chose Wallingford Center because she liked the space, and because she appreciated having other eclectic small businesses around, both in the building and in the neighborhood in general. “It does have this sense of community.”

She says the grouping of stores in Wallingford draws the kind of customer who is looking for things that can’t be found in a mall, and who values a neighborhood business.

Judy Ayers, who has owned 4 Your Eyes Only since 2005, agrees. “People definitely support independent type businesses.”

All the stores on the main floor of the center are owned by women or by married couples. Ayers says she often feels like the other business owners are her coworkers because they are colleagues she sees every day. They’ll collaborate on events such as Halloween and Easter celebrations, and they’ll advise each other about day-to-day business matters.

“I like to have input from others. Where do you look for employees? How do you advertise? Things of that nature,” she says.

“We all know each other. We all support each other and help each other out.”

Women own a lot of businesses in the neighborhood in general. The block of Wallingford Avenue, across the street from Wallingford Center, has three woman-owned businesses, including Wide World Books & Maps, a 32-year-old Wallingford fixture. Simone Andrus, the store’s owner since 1997, is the third owner and second woman at the helm. She says Wallingford is a good neighborhood for women-owned businesses and for new entrepreneurs in general because of the location (close to highways and anchored in a walkable residential neighborhood) and the rents (low compared to downtown.)

Still, it’s not always easy. In 1999, she moved the business to its current location, doubling its space. Then she had to adjust to both the burst of the Internet bubble and the fallout from 9/11. “I would say the recession we’re moving into is going to be more trying than either of those,” she offers.

So she has a close eye on the store’s inventory — keeping two copies of some books on hand instead of 12, and reordering more frequently, if and when she needs to. “We’ve certainly been more cautious this year.”

Koch has been paying similarly close attention to her stock — making sure she runs the business conservatively and doesn’t become overextended. “Really work on having a budget and staying within it,” she says. It certainly didn’t help when it snowed the week before Christmas — most retailers’ busiest time of year. However, despite the hassles — closing early, days when employees couldn’t make it, at least one day when she couldn’t get out of her driveway in Shoreline — the shoppers kept coming, many on foot or by bus.

Fiona Cohen is a frequent contributor to Seattle Woman.

©2009 Caliope Publishing Company