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NATCO next to Olympic & Drum Exchange Is No More

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The NATCO mailbox/shipping store behind Olympia Pizza is now vacant with a “For Lease: 206-595-5752” sign in the window. George wrote the following to his mailbox holders last month when his lease could not be renewed:

To all mailbox holders,
I had the pleasure of serving you all these years. However, I am retiring due to a family emergency and my age, 71 years. We had someone who was going to assume our business to insure the continuity of your address at this location but the landlord refused to sign a new lease with him and informed me just end of last week. So, I am sorry to let you know that we are closing the business by the last day of this month, May 31, 2015, that’s when my lease ends.
I already talked to the manager of our post office. You can fill change of address there when you get a new one. I also talked to the UPS Store on 45th St, between Corlis and Sunnyside. They have mailboxes available. We will be receiving mail until the last week of this month. Please check with us even if you put change of address.
NATCO will prorate the rent for the months paid in advance.
If you have any questions, please call us or see us.
Thank you all for doing business with us all these years.
Best regards,
George Bet-Shlimon
NATCO SHIPPING
 George was a great guy to chat with, a real fun and forceful personality. He’ll be missed, and if the lease indication is correct then all the other businesses on that block are also under threat. Wallingford is getting a little less quirky.
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Thanks to the heads up from Mike and Jim on this item.

 

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Eric

I've lived here since 1998. I spent 13 years at Microsoft as a developer and manager, concurrent with Ballmer's reign. I quit after seeing my third consecutive project cancelled, while my parents needed help, and my wife was getting stressed working at Seattle Public Schools. Since then, I have helped family and community while taking on side projects and volunteer work. I led the renovation of Meridian Playground, helped moderate the South Transfer Station design, helped advance the Green Lake Way road diet, and have guided several transportation and parks projects through neighborhood involvement. I wrote for Wallyhood for a while and was president of the Wallingford Community Council during the great recession, where thankfully, land use was not an issue. I'm an impatient moderate vegetarian who believes in practical win-win solutions.

This Post Has 14 Comments

  1. Barry June 23, 2015

    I never thought of Wallingford as quirky. I’d use the term “human.”

    1. Eric June 23, 2015

      Human is good too. I like to think of humans being themselves as being quirky, as opposed to humans that are squeezed into a corporate mold. George was defiantly not stamped from a corporate mold.

  2. Donn June 23, 2015

    Wallingford to be “human”, in a meaningful way, would require e.g. University District, Fremont to be “inhuman.” While that might be arguable, I would hope that in the process we’d come across a more illuminating way to articulate it.

    The problem with words like “quirky” is the way we use them, typically to refer to behaviors that stick out from the normal range of variation to a degree that suggests some unnatural abnormality. The idea of natural abnormality is difficult maybe partly because of the inherent paradox (“expect the unexpected”), but if it’s also something we cherish so much that we describe it as “human”, it’s worth a spot in our vocabulary somewhere.

  3. cocoloco June 23, 2015

    wellllll I think the bigger issue is that the landlord refused to sign a new lease to keep the business in the location.
    Now?
    it is an empty hole with a big for rent sign in front.

  4. Janey June 23, 2015

    I’m sorry to hear this. I wasn’t a customer, but he always took any styrofoam peanuts that I needed to recycle. (Wonder if UPS Store will do that?), and seemed like a genuinely interesting guy. Hope there was some issue we don’t know about with the lease renewal, and that another small local business will start up there soon.

  5. Holly June 23, 2015

    George, thanks for the many years of good service! We used NATCO for mailing multiple times and always enjoyed chatting. I hope your family emergency resolves itself and you enjoy retirement.

  6. Flip June 23, 2015

    “all the other businesses on that block are also under threat. Wallingford is getting a little less quirky.”

    Substitute “Wallingford” with Seattle.

  7. Barbbsea June 23, 2015

    Yes, The UPS Store accepts styrofoam peanuts. They will not take compostable/cornstarch peanuts, though.

  8. id thoris June 23, 2015

    I am sorry to hear this as well. I was not a frequent customer, but George was a splendid person to do business with. And the lease issue does not sound promising.

  9. Eric June 23, 2015

    George and Hana were such a tremendous pleasure! Chatting with them about life was half the reason I went there. I will miss them and wish them luck!!

  10. That Guy June 24, 2015

    I hope that George sees this. I appreciated conversations with him and wish him well.

  11. Paul B June 24, 2015

    Building torn down for more condos, perhaps… let the speculation begin.

  12. eliza June 24, 2015

    Have wondered in the past few years if this was coming. George sure did have a discourse on just about everything. Interesting human being, and we’re sorry to see the end of NATCO.

  13. co June 26, 2015

    It was 40th and Stone.. and was going to be a QFC. There had been an Albertsons or Safeway there in the mid 1980s.

Comments are closed.