10 Best Kept Secrets of Pike Place Market

Most of us know that when you visit the market on a busy day the main arcade with all the day stalls will be so crowded you can barely walk. Want to escape those crowds? Venture down to the lower levels. That's right, Pike Place Market is huge (nine acres to be exact) and if you don't leave the top floor you'll never discover all the fun that is below. 

We decided to give you a nice teaser of the shops on the lower levels to get you started on your adventure.

Here are our top ten places to shop in the "underbelly" of Pike Place Market:

Chocolate spice and indi chocolate

1. indi chocolate

On the 5th floor of Pike Place Market sits a wonderful little shop selling hand-crafted, small batch chocolate. If you love chocolate and shopping local, well then this is the place for you.

Insider Tip: They are expanding into a larger space in the market in 2017 and visitors will be able to view their whole production process, so keep an eye out for that! 

The cool designs of Slow Loris

2. Slow Loris

Jessica Lynch is the woman behind almost 100% of what you find in this shop on the 3rd floor. Her talents are diverse and so is her shop. You can get wall prints, t-shirts, hats, bags, and so much more.

Organized chaos at BLMF

3. BLMF literary Saloon

This place is exploding books. Every surface is covered. It is the best kind of organized chaos and we love getting lost in here. The prices are right and the staff is ready to help you find your next book to fall into, just watch out that you don't fall over that stack in the corner trying to get to it!

Movie scripts galore at Golden Age Collectibles

4. Golden Age Collectibles

Golden Age Collectibles draws people into their shop in the most genius of ways: life-size cutouts. You can't miss them as you walk around the 4th floor because Han Solo and Daryl Dixon won't let you! Once you're inside you'll find everything you need to feel young again from The Goonies movie script to rare comic books. 

Colorful skull at Cintli

5. Cintli by Beto Yarce

Cintli has everything you need for your Day of the Dead alter as well as unique Mexican jewelry and fun Mexican crafts. It also might be the most colorful shop in Pike Place Market, which always draws us in.  

Paper toys at Chin Music Press

6. Chin Music Press

This small publishing house focuses on primarily Japanese authors. Their studio holds not only all of their beautiful books but beautiful artwork as well. It's an incredibly unique and cool space which everyone should check out.

Orange Dracula's pin festish

7. Orange Dracula

This shop is quirky and amazing. You can play Pac-Man, shop their wide selection of pins, or find great gag-gifts (Squirrel underwear anyone?). We covered Orange Dracula in another post because they have one of the few working film photo booths left in Seattle. 

8. Gem Heaven 

Gem Heaven is like no other place in the market. While it’s a small shop, it doesn’t skimp on variety and sells a wide assortment of beautiful gems, rocks, geodes, fossils, and crystals. We love reading the signs that explain how each gem promotes wellness, and if the signs don’t answer your questions, the lovely shop keepers can. 

Get your fortune told at the Market Magic Shop! Elvis knows best.

9. Market Magic Shop 

We covered this shop for April Fools Day, but honestly it's fun year round. If you have a curious kid inside of you we promise you'll have a blast rummaging through the Market Magic Shop. And if you are wondering if the Elvis Fortune Teller is legit, the answer is yes. Yes he is. 

Lots of gift options at Ventures HandCrafted Gifts

10. Ventures HandCrafted Gifts

This is our go-to place for gifts when we need something useful and unique. Our mothers have their dish towels and our friends have their art. The best part is you are not only walking away with a locally-produced item, you can also sleep well knowing you helped support a store that makes it part of its mission to coach the young entrepreneurs that make the goods featured in the store. Two thumbs up, Ventures!

Places We Love: Cone & Steiner

Story time. There once was a child who used to go to summer camp in Iowa at a wondrous place called Living History Farms, an interactive camp to show kids what life was like back in the 18th and 19th century. This was the coolest summer camp for a number of reasons, but mostly because of the general store. The general store had all sorts of old-timey items you could buy with quarters. 

Obviously, lemon drops were king. Lemon drops were the currency of summer camp. Like cigarettes in prison. Or Bitcoin in Silicon Valley. If you wanted to get picked on the good Capture the Flag team, cough up some lemon drops. Sorry, the lemon drop thing is kind of irrelevant (but cute right?). The point is, the general store was amazing and full of weird and wonderful things.

And now, thanks to Cone and Steiner, we get to relive the happiness of walking into a store with glass jars of candy and bottles of root beer. 

They have two locations in Seattle, one in Pioneer Square and one in Capitol Hill. When you visit you will get to shop their well curated selection of food, beverages, and provisions. Not to mention local beers on tap and goodies like candles, soups, and cards made by local artists/creators. It is a great place to support and it never fails to introduce us to a new product that we end up loving. 

Pop in next time you're in the neighborhood and we promise, whether you have general store summer camp memories or not, you'll become a fan. 

Fresh flowers are available when they are in season. 

They offer a little bit of everything

Local goods

The bar

Candy. In jars! Hallelujah! 

Throwback fonts 

Bettie Page House (now with a friend!)

For the last decade, Seattle commuters have been able to admire the beautiful Bettie Page as they make their way to and from Seattle's downtown and now, we can thank the owners of this Ravenna home for a new addition: Divine. 

Bettie Page (what a hottie, right?!) has been eyeing us for so long she seems like she must have always been painted two stories high on the side of I-5. But, alas, her story only began in 2006 when home owner Chris Brugos asked a friend, John Green, to add a little color to his home, even if it was in black and white. Bettie Page emerged after a lot of hours of work and is now a signature of Seattle, representing the openness of Seattle and the openness Bettie Page represented, far before her time. 

Sadly, in June Bettie was vandalized. The vandals stating feminism as their cause (yes...because that makes sense...vandalize a beautiful woman expressing herself openly...great logic. <---that was sarcasm). But the homeowners were not deterred; they brought Bettie back to her original spender and have given her a friend whose image is equally powerful: Divine. Divine was given the title "Drag Queen of the Century" and has been a powerful figure in the LGBT community. 

These ladies are killing it up there and that is saying something. We're not sure we could pull off the siding look. 

All joking aside, we love this house and hope that the community continues to support this art. It makes our city a better place! 

Places We Love: Cinebarre

It's Friday night, the week has been long and tiring and all you want is to sink into a cushy seat and watch the newest Blockbuster. One problem, popcorn and a soda just isn't what you are craving. Maybe it's a cheeseburger, or wine or a vodka tonic or a shot of tequila, and you know what? That's okay! Especially since Seattle has wonderful movie theaters like Cinebarre and Big Picture that will serve you the food and alcoholic beverage of your choice right to your movie seat! 

The movie posters will take you on a trip down memory lane! 

Cinebarre is located in Montlake Terrace, right off of I-5 and has a great bar and menu to get you started. You can arrive early and get an appetizer and first drink in the lobby or you can arrive right when the movie is starting and get all the same food/drinks in the theater while you watch. It is just your preference! 

If there is ever an option to doing something with or without wine, always go with wine. 

The decor/vibe is decent considering it's owned by a giant chain (Regal) and the menu matches with all the items named after movies or movie characters (i.e. The Italian Job =  Pepperoni Pizza and Half Baked = Hot Chocolate Chip Cookies). 

Insider Tip: Don't see huge blockbusters here on an opening weekend. It is crazy crowded so they will struggle to get you your order, which is frustrating. We like Cinebarre for matinees or more obscure, low-key movies. 

The lobby bar