Old Ballard Liquor Co. Is Changing From Distillery to Nordic Restaurant

Welcome back to Eater News, a semi-regular round-up of mini news bites. Have info to share? Email intel to seattle@eater.com.

• Capitol Hill’s Octo Sushi closed July 14 after eight years on 12th Ave.
• Phinney Ridge’s Phinney Market Pub and Eatery closes July 30 after seven years on Phinney Ave N.
• Old Ballard Liquor Co. closes July 31 with plans to reopen in August as a Nordic bar and restaurant, rather than its current form as a combination distillery and Scandinavian cafe. All products are half-price until the distillery closes.
• Starbucks opens its first U.S. Signing Store — staffed by deaf and hard-of-hearing people along with allies, all of whom must be proficient in American Sign Language (ASL) — in October in Washington, D.C.
• One of Seattle’s most enduring icons, Pike Place Fish Market, whose workers’ fish-throwing antics entertain countless customers and passersby each year, is now owned by three longtime employees: Samuel Samson, Ryan Reese, and Anders Miller. Previous owner John Yokoyama bought the market from its founder in 1965 and says he began tossing fish from the front display to the scales in the back to save time and energy.
• Southcenter’s liquid nitrogen ice cream shop, Cloud Nine Creamery, could go from one-off to chain if the company is able to attract franchisees.
• Belltown tiki bar Navy Strength scored big at prestigious New Orleans trade conference Tales of the Cocktail this year, winning Best New American Cocktail Bar. Tales’ regional top ten lists for the West Coast also included a few Seattle standouts: Capitol Hill’s Rumba as a cocktail bar, Pike Place Market’s Zig Zag Cafe as a high-volume cocktail bar, and downtown’s Heartwood Provisions as a restaurant bar.