The latest coffee shop in Ballard, Mabel, is now open at 7001 24th Ave NW.
The new shop is named after founder Brooke McCurdy’s Great Aunt Mabel (pictured); “a remarkable force of nature who blazed her own storied trail her whole life”.
From humble beginnings on a rural farm in 1904, Mabel went on to travel the world, and later, in her 80’s, she navigated the US Highway System at the wheel of her 42-foot GMC Revcon RV.
The new shop celebrates Mabel’s spirit of adventure and love of good food, with a curated seasonal rotation of tasty local fare from local bakeries, including Macrina and Le Reve Bakery on Queen Anne.
“We are putting an emphasis on the neighborhood. Most of our employees live nearby and we are working to get more wholesale accounts set up with local vendors. Profits from Mabel support the local community by subsidizing the rent and renovations of a number of affordable housing units,” says owner Brooke.
Behind the coffee shop is an open, flexible indoor workspace called The RV Park (which stands for Retail Visioning Park). It is a utility space for short-term rentals, where locals can find help to build mockups of retail designs that real customers can visit, provide feedback, and help incubate “the next great idea.”
“We hope that Mabel and the RV Park can give visibility, feedback, support and help overcome some of the barriers that are keeping that creativity bottled up. We also hope Mabel becomes a favorite community gathering place just to relax and refuel before you’re off to work, adventuring or on a stroll around the neighborhood,” says Brooke.
Click here to check out Mabel’s Facebook page.
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