Seattleites used to shop there for fresh fish and flowers, but many now say it's impossible to navigate without bumping into tour groups and $18 chowder bowls. Has the market lost its soul?
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Add your commentMy grandmother sold flowers at a stall there for eleven years. When she passed we spread some of her ashes at the overlook facing the sound because she said the market was the best job she ever had. So yeah, call it a tourist trap if you want. For some of us it means something a little harder to price tag.
Born and raised in Ballard, and I haven't gone to Pike Place for actual groceries in probably 15 years. Last time I tried to squeeze past a tour group blocking the entire fish stall just to buy some sockeye, some guy from Ohio nearly knocked me into the chowder display taking a selfie. It's a theme park now. A really well-maintained, somewhat charming theme park, but a theme park. The soul left when the rent did.
To whoever said the fish toss started in 2001 — that is wildly incorrect and I'd encourage you to Google literally anything. The guys at Pike Place Fish have been doing that since the 1980s and it predates any business book by a wide margin. The "Fish! Philosophy" book came AFTER journalists noticed what they were already doing. Please do not spread misinformation on a debate forum.
The Market actually has a whole residential community built into it — low-income seniors have lived in those upper floors for decades. People forget that. It's not JUST a market, it's a functioning piece of the neighborhood with a preservation ordinance protecting it since 1971. So before everyone writes it off as a tourist trap, maybe remember that real Seattleites literally live there year-round and depend on it.
ok hot take but pike place was ALWAYS a little touristy?? like even in the 90s my mom used to complain about the crowds. people love to romanticize it like it was this secret local gem but it was literally featured in Sleepless in Seattle which came out in 1993. the nostalgia goggles are doing a lot of heavy lifting here lol
Fun fact: the fish throwing thing was actually invented by the Pike Place Fish Co. guys as a genuine way to pass fish quickly across the stall before tourists made it a whole performance. So even the "authentic" thing everyone points to is basically theater now. Argue with the wall.
I moved here from Chicago about three years ago and honestly Pike Place blew my mind. The flower stalls are genuinely beautiful and cheap compared to any florist in the city, and I found a cheese vendor who charges completely reasonable prices. Maybe locals just don't know where to look anymore? Not everything there is $18 chowder.
Confidently disagree with everyone here. Rachel the pig has ALWAYS been a tourist thing. Pike Place Fish Market started the fish toss in 2001 as a marketing gimmick after reading a business book. Look it up.
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