On a nondescript street corner in Wallingford sits a little red building. It was built as a grocery in 1913, back when Wallingford was called Edgewater and a new streetcar ran past. Today, it retains a lot of its early-20th-century charm, and as homage to its original roots, it's open to the public as the JAS Corner Store.
JAS is the name of a design-build firm started by Kim Clements and Joe Schneider in 1992, both architects by training. It's based on Lopez Island as well as in Seattle, focusing on residential work ranging from renovations of historic homes to additions to newbuilds that look modern, but feel warm. Today, the firm also includes a robust interior design arm, evolved out of their work in residential architecture. For Kim, the Corner Store seemed like a practical notion, an idea that manifested itself out of necessity. “What if we had a laboratory for our interiors department? A space where we could work with clients and each other in real scale, and in real time?” she riffs. Clients of the design-build firm come here to browse, to meet with the design team, and to see some of their interior choices up close.
The Corner Store is also open to the general public, and offers the embrace of a well-curated space filled with old and new things. There’s no exterior signage to speak of, giving the sense you’re discovering something hidden — and when you go in, it doesn’t have the feel of a traditional store you pop into, make a loop, and either make a purchase or not. “Ideally, you don’t want to experience it that way,” says Kim. “We didn’t invent the notion of ‘slow retail’, but I feel that is what we wanted to create here. Like opening drawers of artifacts in a cabinet of curiosities; inviting people to have an experience and find things on their own terms.”
Kim describes what’s inside as “housewares that are unique and maybe a little bit eccentric”, and she delivers—there’s a vintage bird cage filled with her sons’ old dinosaur toys, for example, that feels right at home. A row of unique vintage lamps hangs from the ceiling, a set of stools repurposed from salvaged timber and built by Joe sit in the corner, a pair of vintage rattan living room chairs are part of a living room arrangement. A highlight is a set of charcuterie boards repurposed from vintage paper cutters, showing the markings and the wear. You’ll find ceramics, blankets, and pillows handmade from overages of JAS upholstery projects, alongside many other things.
Spaces like the JAS Corner Store – and Kirk Albert’s in Georgetown, Peter Miller’s in Pioneer Square, Hoedemaker Pfeiffer’s Housewright in Georgetown—fill a space in brick-and-mortar retail that is less focused on volume, and more on experience, on finding objects with a story. The fact that these kinds of stores are rare has, for Kim, a bit to do with the way we build commercial spaces in the city today. Kim: “[The Corner Store] was also a reaction to the loss of small, unique shops in Seattle. The spaces being created by new 3-over-2 buildings along corridors like North 45th Street and Stoneway offer ground floor retail-commercial spaces (required by zoning) that are often much more square footage than a small independent and entrepreneurial shop owner can afford to rent or even to stock properly.” The 110-year old building the Corner Store calls home certainly adds much charm—nothing like the creak of hardwood floors older than you beneath your feet. The Corner Store is a fitting enhancement to the neighborhood, and an idea that a design lover can only hope other firms emulate.
