B&O Espresso has been on the Hill for 33 years and hasn't budged from its original location on East Olive Way and Belmont Avenue. But the three establishments are about to experience a caffeinated version of musical chairs.
B&O employees and customers are preparing for the shop's big move a few blocks northwest to Dilettante's former Broadway location. B&O's building will be torn down and condos will be erected shortly after, said John Auseth, B&O's general manager. Both Dilettante and Vivace, closed in anticipation of coming relocations, will be moving into the new Brix building on Broadway's north end.
"It's going to be a gradual transition to make it easier for everyone," said Auseth. "We're going to try to keep both locations open simultaneously and take pieces of the current store up to the new location gradually."
Auseth said B&O was the second coffee house to open in Seattle and is a landmark for Capitol Hill.
"A lot of people come in from all over Puget Sound to visit our store," he said. "We even have people that will call in the evening from Bellevue to see if we're still open so they can come get a coffee cake."
When word broke that one of Seattle's original coffee houses was moving, everyone took the news pretty hard.
"It's really been an emotional roller coaster," Auseth said. "Customers have been coming in for generations. There's even a petition that was started to try and stop the move."
Auseth said B&O has helped create memories for years:
"We've had a lot of first dates and blind dates happen here. It's really been a sort of heartbeat of the community. It has really grown with the community. Many people are sad to see the space go."
Since the shop's opening in 1975, B&O has grown from just serving coffee to serving baked goods, and now includes a small bar with a full liquor license.
While there is no set date for the opening of the new B&O location, Auseth hopes to move into the old Dilettante space in the next few months.
Dilettante and Vivace are also preparing for their upcoming moves to the new Brix building. While move-in dates are tentative, Brix representatives said they hope businesses will arrive sometime in September.
Retail shops will get the OK to move in after the building's retail spaces are inspected, said the representatives, who asked that their names not be printed.
Dilettante's Brix location will be called Dilettante Mocha Café and Chocolate Martini Bar, and the doors are expected to open in late September, according to the company's Web site.
Dilettante has been making its own chocolates for many years, and was serving espresso well before Starbucks became ubiquitous. The company has opened five cafés around the Seattle area.
Vivace, which was forced to close its doors at its flagship East Denny Way location near Cal Anderson Park in anticipation of light-rail construction, also anticipates a September move-in.
"We're planning on Sept. 6, but it really depends on how construction is going," said Lisa Parsons, manager of the Vivace stand located along the 300 block of Broadway East. Parsons said while most people are excited about the move, they did receive expected resistance.
"Some people really didn't want the move to happen, but it's pretty hard to fight city hall," she said. "I think most customers are excited, though. Even though being by the park was nice, it will be nice to be in a new building."
Parsons said while moving is never pleasant, the owner is excited about the change and is moving forward.
"We're not really being nostalgic," she said.
Parsons is looking forward to things being not as frenzied in the new location. "It will be really nice when the new store is open. We've been extremely busy," she said. The owner is working to create a design that the coffee faithful will appreciate.
While it may be difficult to recreate the unique atmosphere of their original locations, the coffee shops are going to try.
"We're really going to try to capture some of the same ambiance that we have at the original location," said Auseth. "It's very beautiful inside and people come from all over to see it."
Sasha London is a student in the University of Washington's Department of Communication News Laboratory.
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