At around 13,000 square feet, it's about a third smaller than the existing Bartell in Lower Queen Anne, and the new store closes a circle in a way.
Company founder George H. Bartell lived on Queen Anne Hill and raised his family there when he started the business in 1890, noted George D. Bartell, a third-generation member of the family and the current chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
The family-owned business is the nation's oldest drugstore chain, according to a press release about the new store's opening. It also marks a departure from the usual way the stores are located.
In the past, they have been part of business districts or part of large mixed-use projects such as the store in the complex in Lower Queen Anne, said Barry Bartlett, from the Bartlett Group public-relations firm. The new store, by contrast, is located in an area that is primarily residential, he said.
Unlike the Bartell in Lower Queen Anne, which is not closing, the new store won't be open 24 hours a day, Bartlett said. But it will offer four digital print kiosks, one-hour, on-site photo finishing and a broader selection of cameras and sound electronics than the other Queen Anne store, according to the press release.
The new store, like all other Bartells, will offer a full-service pharmacy, and it should be a good fit for the neighborhood, according to Rebecca Siegmund, assistant vice president of marketing for the company. "It's a good Bartell-customer neighborhood," she said.
Joe Fuira would agree. He lives on the north slope of Queen Anne and was in the new Bartell on Monday afternoon. "They've done a nice job of it," he said. "It looks good."
Furia has been a regular shopper at the Bartell in Lower Queen Anne, and he said he'd probably start shopping at the one in Upper Queen Anne, which also has parking in an underground garage.
Asked what the attraction was, Furia said it was the local connection. "That's really important," he said, "and they seem to have everything."
There are 12 Bartell drugstores in Snohomish County and three in Pierce County, Siegmund said. The balance of the 56 stores are in King County, and the majority of those are in Seattle, she said.
The Bartell company recently has been opening two or three new or replacement stores a year, Siegmund added. There are no plans currently to open any stores outside of the three-county area, but it's a possibility, she conceded. "We never say never."
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