I thought about the seat cover store on the corner of Jackson and Rainer every time we drove by it. I wondered about who would buy covers for their seats when their cars already came with them and how the store could stay in business since I never saw anyone there. I realize that I have been thinking about specialized stores and trades for a large part of my life. I find myself wondering how the person got into the business and how they succeed financially within such a small and often obscure nitche. After living in New York and Barcelona - cities that both maintain particular stores for particular products or services - I see a likeness in some of the shops I’ve documented. The essential difference lies in their locations. Those two cities with their dense cores seem to support those businesses in a much more tangible way than Seattle’s widespread neighborhoods.

I chose to document a range of specialty shops in three distinct areas of the city. They range from obscure to commonplace and are most likely legitimized by the amount of time they’ve occupied the location and the significance they have to the surrounding or in some cases larger population. I’m not familiar with many of the stores and I know that the actuality of their business is varied. But, there is something about their specialties, their facades, and their type of location that glues them together.