Walk Queen Anne Avenue North on a Thursday afternoon right now and you'll pass sweet corn stacked in wooden crates, a kids' tent where someone is teaching lantern-making ahead of the equinox, and a fiddle band tuning up for the evening crowd. Keep walking two doors down and you'll pass a storefront still wearing butcher paper over its windows, waiting for a grocery chain to move in. One block further, past the ice cream shop selling a pear and blue cheese scoop, a sushi counter is booked solid for a nine-course tasting menu that runs $175 a seat.
None of that is spread across the neighborhood. It's compressed into a walk you could finish before your coffee gets cold, and for a few more weeks, it's all still happening at the same time. The Queen Anne Farmers Market, which charges nothing to walk through and matches SNAP and EBT dollars on fresh produce through the Fresh Bucks program, is still running on the same four blocks where a $175 tasting menu and a proposed $25,000 country club membership are also landing this year. The market's regular season ends October 8, and its final bonus Saturday is November 21; the regular season returns next May. Nearby businesses and projects follow their own schedules.
The Building That Used to Sell You Dinner Directly
For decades, the little green building on the corner of McGraw Street and Queen Anne Avenue North was where hilltop residents bought their meat, fish, and poultry. That was B&E Meats & Seafood, a fixture on the corner until it announced last year that it would close. The space sat empty until August 7, 2026, when Kitchen & Market announced on social media that it would open its next Seattle location at that exact corner in early 2027.
Kitchen & Market isn't a replacement butcher counter. It's a European-style grocery concept built around chef-prepared meal kits, ranging $45 to $65 for two to four servings, plus grab-and-go items and fresh produce. The founder, Stephanie King, has described the format as a cross between a specialty grocer and a meal delivery service. "We are beyond excited to officially join the Queen Anne community in early 2027," Kitchen & Market said in an announcement reported by KIRO 7. It will be the company's sixth Seattle-area store, following locations in Pike Place Market, Mercer Island, Medina, Yarrow Bay, and Eastlake.
The contrast is worth sitting with for a second. A meal kit at that corner will run somewhere between $45 and $65. A basket of the same category of ingredients, corn, greens, cheese, at the farmers market a few blocks south costs whatever the vendor is charging that week, and less than that if you're using Fresh Bucks. The farmers market and the meal-kit offering have different timelines: the market season ends in November, while the new store is planned for early 2027.
Two Doors From a Butcher Paper Window
The corner isn't the only thing changing hands on the Ave this year. A few storefronts away, Sushi Yoin has built enough of a following that reservations for its omakase counter are already hard to get on short notice, at $175 a seat. Next to that, a new scoop shop has started advertising a pear and blue cheese flavor, adding another option to the Ave.
Queen Anne isn't becoming one thing or the other. It's being asked to do more than it was doing two years ago, in a smaller footprint than that range of price points would usually require. The planned grocery store, sushi counter, and ice cream shop offer different options within a compact stretch of the Ave.
A Half Block North, a Different Bet
Another proposed project isn't retail at all. Back in April, FOX 13 Seattle reported that Ryan Schaffer and Shankar Sundaram had filed plans for a private club at 6 and 10 Dravus Street, just east of the Seattle Pacific University campus, calling it an "urban country club." According to Puget Sound Business Journal reporting on the filing, founding members would pay $25,000 upfront, covering four years of dues. The planned grocery store and proposed club are separate projects at different stages.
What's Actually on the Calendar Before the Market Goes Quiet
While all of that works its way through permitting and buildout, the market itself has kept running, though on a shortening clock and with Thursday hours shifted earlier. Here's what's left of the season:
- Now through October 8: Thursday hours have already shifted to 3 to 7pm, a half hour earlier than the market's usual close, so vendors can pack up while there's still daylight.
- October 8: the last regular Thursday market of the 2026 season, and the final weekly gathering that typically draws 5,000 to 7,000 people, the biggest recurring community event on Queen Anne.
- October 31: a bonus Harvest Market runs 10am to 3pm, the same day the Queen Anne Chamber of Commerce hosts Trick-or-Treat on the Ave from 3:30 to 6pm, when merchants along Upper Queen Anne Avenue hand out treats to costumed kids.
- November 21: the final bonus Harvest Market of the year, also 10am to 3pm. After that, nothing until the market's regular season resumes next May.
The market's seasonal calendar is one part of Queen Anne Avenue's broader commercial rhythm.
A Seasonal View of Queen Anne Avenue
Queen Anne Avenue's commercial activity spans a seasonal farmers market, established businesses, and projects at different stages. The market's regular season ends October 8, bonus markets follow in October and November, and the last bonus Harvest Market is November 21; the regular season resumes next May. Kitchen & Market is planned to open in early 2027, the omakase counter is already operating, and the club remains a proposal.
If you live on the hill, the next two months are worth one more Thursday walk or two, not because the market is going away for good, but because its season is nearing its annual close.
Reading a neighborhood's commercial rhythm this closely, what's opening, what's closing, what price point is betting on what, is the same habit that goes into understanding what a place is actually worth to live in, not just visit. If you're weighing a move within Queen Anne or elsewhere in Seattle and want that kind of read on a specific block, Adam Bradley is happy to walk through it with you. Schedule a Strategic Consultation whenever you're ready to talk specifics.
