Keep Old Seattle Paperworks Open

John opened Old Seattle Paperworks on May 1st, 1976 when he was 21 years old. Now, 44 years later, the doors have been shuttered and the future is uncertain. While there have been lean periods over the decades, time & time again we’ve persevered and continued to grow our business and keep the shop open & profitable. Coronavirus has changed our world drastically and suddenly, presenting a challenge that we didn’t see coming and leaving us unable to pay our employee & our vendors.

When Seattle closed all non-essential shops on March 15th, the city’s small businesses were forced to immediately lock their doors and send their employees home. The lower levels of the Pike Place Market were closed for an indeterminate period of time, leaving many without any income or source of revenue. It’s been over a month since we’ve had our doors open to the public, and while restaurants are able to continue doing business with take-out or delivery, the small retail shops like ours are left in a limbo of not knowing when or how to pay our increasingly mounting bills. The commercial rent is still due, there is no amnesty for our bills, and there is no daily source of income.

Once the “Stay at Home” directive is lifted, there will be uncertainty moving forward in how to proceed while keeping customers safe in our 500 square foot space. We are at the juncture of trying to decide our future. We have asked that our rent & bills be pushed back for 3 months which allows us to raise as much money as we can now in anticipation of those July/August due dates. We are hoping to remain a strong retail member of our Market community, but we need help.

If you have enjoyed our business, if you have visited the Market and you remember our tiny Down Under shop - attached to the Giant Shoe Museum - the one with the old magazines & maps & poster prints, then we sincerely thank you for your past business, and we humbly ask for your consideration in this time of extreme financial duress. If you still have an income, a job, or a source of money and are considering helping your favorite small business retailers, we ask that you add us to your list for potential assistance.

We had high hopes for the federal government’s Payroll Protection Program. We applied for PPP loans on the first day, but those loans were given to larger corporations with accounting firms to rally on their behalf, such as Potbelly and Ruth’s Chris steak house. We applied for Seattle city grants for small businesses through the SBA and found that program also immediately out of funds. We have yet to receive our “one time personal payment” from the government, and it appears that may come sometime in June. We have applied for every available loan/grant program for small businesses and have fallen through the cracks due to banks' overloaded systems and a tangle of failing bureaucracy.

We acknowledge we are not the only small business at risk of not being able to weather this storm. We know there are hundreds of other businesses in Seattle who tragically may never re-open their doors after this pandemic is over. We’ve enjoyed working hard every day to grow our business for over 4 decades. We will celebrate 45 years of Old Seattle Paperworks on May 1st, and we desperately do not want it to be our last. Please help us so we can continue to bring our old magazines, newspapers, postcards and historic ephemera to the masses. We are a small traditional brick & mortar, Mom & Pop shop. It’s all we’ve ever known, and we’d love to continue doing our job.

Stay safe, we hope to serve you again soon.

John & Amy Hanawalt - OLD SEATTLE PAPERWORKS