The longstanding clothing and home decor store Jax Joon is closing up shop this Sunday, and Sweet Mickey’s Candy Shoppe will soon be taking its place at 5338 Ballard Ave.
Brittney Geleynse and her husband bought Jax Joon in 2015 from Jake and Jenny Monroe, who opened in the store 2008. Geleynse then bought Clover Toys (5333 Ballard Ave NW) last year, and have been managing both, which became too much. Their last day is on Sunday, September 16; all merchandise is 60 percent off from now until they close the doors.
“It’s a bittersweet thing,” Geleynse says. “We have been balancing both and it just came to a head. So, we decided to focus on Clover.”
Sweet Mickey’s owner Randy Brinker says he’s looking forward to opening a second location on Ballard Ave. The candy store at Ballard Commons Park has been open since 2012, but his lease ends next year, and he felt he had to jump on the opportunity to move to Ballard Ave.
The new location will be a little different: he says he’ll drop the ice cream (because he says there’s enough delicious ice cream on Ballard Ave already), and plans to add a gourmet nut roaster. He also wants to feature hard-to-find international candies, and extend his fudge offerings.
Brinker wants to transform the space by adding a birthday/events room, a place where people can meet for book clubs or senior events — anything to include the community, he says. With all the contractors lined up and his vision in place, he’s now just waiting for some permitting before he starts the buildout.
“I’m super excited,” Brinker tells My Ballard. “I’ve been wanting to be part of the Ballard Ave community for a long time.”
Once the new store opens, Brinker’s candy shop next to the park will still be open, but with limited hours until the lease ends in August. Right now, he’s aiming for a Dec. 1 opening on Ballard Ave.
Photo from Jax Joon’s Facebook page
A candy store NEXT TO A PARK would a prime location except in a city that allows CRIMINAL JUNKIES TO CAMP EVERYWHERE. How many times has Sweet Mickey’s been robbed?
At gunpoint or just in general? I’m sure they have lost count of shoplifters but I think they only have an armed robbery once or twice a year.
Luckily one of the gun toting crazies relocated to Bergen Place where he was promptly arrested for pulling his gun on a fellow homeless women who he thought was looking at him strangely (7:30 in the morning as a bunch of us were lined up at the bus stop). He previously lived in the green tent on the North side of Ballard Commons.
“He previously lived in the green tent on the North side of Ballard Commons.”
That can’t be. Elenchos tells us her friends at the Commons are harmless fluffy, loveable “people experiencing homelessness,” and that us NIMBY’s are simply afflicted with “Mean World Syndrome.”
As someone who identifies as a furry, “fluffy” is a highly offensive term and oppresses my lived experience as a person of fur.
i’m sure they can’t wait to get away from the feral sh$% show they have been dealing with, though i’m sure they’d never say so publicly, because, totes mean.
Jax Joon closing is almost as big a tragedy as the canceled dog show.
I hope we can get a disaster trauma team out to Ballard soon.
I miss the old butcher shop.
Having a business in the vicinity of the Commons park is difficult. Just ask the folks running Classic Consignment, graffiti, drug needles, theft, derelict vehicles, people using their parking lot as a toilet. It’s hard enough doing business in Seattle then you have to put up with all this other crap. Most of these homeless people are sick and disgusting, I wish we could relocate all of them to eastern Washington somewhere.
“I wish we could relocate all of them to eastern Washington somewhere.”
And do what, work?
You can’t ask them to work. That’s not “compassionate.”
Speaking of stores….,Fred Meyer is getting out of hand with the crazies there a homeless junkie was harassing an old lady for money as we were walking to Fred Meyer from the bus stop off Gilman Burke trail. Then I chased her off about to Jap slap her then seconds later she threw a bottle at me. Walking further they have tents and rv,s set up there with the walking dead gawking at us. That place needs to be cleaned up again and those nuts ran off ! Tired of this BS….may go napalm there azz !
They clear the RV’s out about once a month, they’re gone for a week, then they come back. First one, then two, then the entire street. They had to permanently close off that side entrance to the store because of the goods that were being taken offsite by ‘the people’.
You don’t know any of this to be true. Making shit up, same as always.
That they closed off the entrance? Oh no, that’s true. They also lock the clothes fitting rooms as well now. How do I know that I’m not making it up? The lady who had to bring me the key told me as such. Virtue-signal your way out of that one, ellen.
Ohhhhhhh… well that proves you right! Wait. No it doesn’t, does it? You have this belief that if you just keep typing more nonsense it becomes credible because of how much you typed.
What do you even think “virtue signaling” is? Do you think it’s an all-purpose term to describe anything you don’t like?
It’s one of those alt-right phrases you heard, and now you use it in competently random ways. It’s like a Smurfs cartoon: “That smurfing smurf got smurfed! Smurf along!” “The virtue-signaler virtue signaled the virtue signal!” It’s gibberish because you don’t know what you’re saying. You saw Milo Yiannopoulous or one of those creeps use it and you’re trying to be like him. Also: “cuck”. “The cucking cuck got cucked. Cuck along!” Whether you say smurf or cuck or virtue signal, it’s gibberish if you don’t know what the words mean.
Words mean things. It matters. Truth and lies are not interchangeable. There’s consequences to your perpetual misrepresentation of yourself and of basic facts. People hold you accountable and that doesn’t make you an innocent victim.
Get your tent dwelling convicts out of our neighborhood. This isn’t a political issue, you child.
Oh Ellen,..you’re right, truth and lies are not interchangeable. I provided a bit of truth. You provided an incoherent ramble because you attempted to call me out on it, but it was you who was proven incorrect.
Your answer to truth is to hopefully shout harder and longer until you’re the only one left on the playing field. Must be lonely out there by yourself.
“it was you who was proven incorrect”
Proven? How? Where? What proof? You offered no proof at all. You decided to “shout harder and longer”, which, we can agree, amounts to nothing. You’re making stuff up, pretending to know everything about subjects you have no knowledge or experience of.
Can you even define what you think “virtue signaling” means? From what I can tell, it means whatever you want it to be, and can serve as any part of speech. It’s one of your ‘smurf’ words.
Go buy some clothes and try them on first. You’ll need to get a key as the changing rooms are now permanently locked. There will be your ‘proof’, sadly, you’ll have to do it on your own. I neither want to meet nor associate with you in the real world, so I won’t be holding your hand while you try on your new bloomers.
You made five claims:
1. they clear the RV’s out about once a month
2. they’re gone for a week, then they come back
3. first one, then two, then the entire street
4. they had to permanently close off that side entrance to the store
5. because of the goods that were being taken offsite by ‘the people’
The only evidence you have for any of this wild speculation and hyperbole is that a changing room door is locked. Everything else, you made up.
Brittney Geleynse said very clearly that the reason for closing Jax Joon is that managing two stores became too much work. Thefts? RVs? Nobody said anything about any of that. All that is from your imagination.
Based solely on a locked changing room. You’re a paranoid loon with a wild imagination. You take one tidbit of information and blow it up into your same tired, old, sad RV/junkies/theives/urban decay bullshit.
Jax Joon’s space will not be empty. They have a new business lined up even before it closed. Businesses are clamoring for the chance to be here in Ballard. That fact alone contradicts everything you say.
“This is my truth tell me yours.” How did I make this up? By being told by a sales associate as to why the changing room was locked, and the side entrance permanently closed?
You need to calm down, ellen. And I’m not talking about jax joon, clearly.
Dennis is having one of his regular meltdowns. Please stand by.
So you have nothing of any relevance to say about Jax Joon closing and having a new store come in hot in its heels. You were just trying to shoehorn in your usual complaints about RVs and junkies and make unfounded accusations about them.
Here’s a thought: shoplifting happens at stores that don’t have any RVs or tents or panhandlers for miles and miles. Housed people with jobs and families and cars shoplift. But for you, it always has to be about one thing.
BUT, pretty damn sure that the candy store is moving from its original location because of not getting a lot of traffic due to homelessness in the park. Or at least that’s what the guy in the candy store says every single time you go in there… homeless is an issue in Ballard, especially in the park next to the original location of the candy store that is taking over the location of that store that is leaving. Just to bring the story back around for you, circle jerker.
Look around at any urban park you want. How many of them have a foofy expensive delicacy boutique immediately adjacent? That kind of place might do well next door to an antique shop and a dress boutique, but not a city park. Sweet Mickey’s sells handmade chocolate fudge that costs — for ONE serving — $24.00! Twenty Four bucks! Hello?
A mid-range coffee shop, pizza by the slice, or a low-priced ice cream or burger joint — Little Coney near the boat launch by Golden Gardens being a perfect example — is much more likely to do well next door to an urban park. Sweet Mickey’s always looked odd located in that spot. Clover toys or The Walrus and the Carpenter would also look out of place there.
And even then, most small businesses don’t last for decades. It’s a tough market and many of them can only make a run of three or four or five years.
Sweet Mickey’s did six solid years right there. To me that’s basically success. I would expect they will do even better in a more appropriate context for that kind of store. Twenty four dollars for a bite of fudge. Do people take their six year old to the spray park and then go buy them that? Maybe… bus seriously.
Oh, my mistake — it’s $24 per POUND of fudge, not one serving. Makes no difference. It’s way out of the price range of people hanging out in the park.
Has no one ever explained to you how a forum like this works? If there’s somebody you don’t want to talk to, DON’T ASK THEM QUESTIONS. If you reply to them, they will probably reply to you.
If two people are replying to each other, and you don’t want to read what one of them is saying, DON’T READ THAT THREAD, numbnuts. Somebody argues with me, I’ll probably argue back. Don’t want to hear from me? Then don’t keep on arguing.
Don’t want to read me arguing with someone else? READ SOMETHING ELSE.
I’m sorry you’re this stupid, sockmaster, but it’s your own fault. Pull your head out of your ass and make less stupid choices.
…as we were walking to Fred Meyer from the bus stop off Gilman Burke trail;
Your sensationalist story fell apart pretty quick there “Joe”.
What a violent and threatening thing to post.
Yep. BG Trail from Fred Meyer to Fremont Canal Park is a feral sh*t show now. Ride through it daily. Why does the Parks Dept allow these cretins to leave huge piles of garbage? Oh and the needle deposit box is a classy touch. Disgusting. Get bent, elenchos.
Mr. Brinker: you truly have balls! Can you estimate/compute your cost of compliance last year for us all here? What % of total sales were write-offs due to theft? Perhaps that info would mean more to the others, who run their mouths, and nothing else.
A shout out to Randy from those of us on low carb or keto diets. Pleaase make some fudge with a sugar substitute. I’ve found that BochaSweet has the least unpleasant taste of all of them. I make my own chocolate ice cream with it and it is pretty OK. Some chocolate walnut fudge with BochaSweet would be awesome. Doesn’t have to be low fat – just low carb. I wish Salt & Straw would also try their hand at a low carb ice cream – I bet it would rock.
LOL: a business closes, and the sockpuppet trolls say it’s proof Ballard is going to hell. A new business opens, and the socks say it proves Ballard is doomed. Also: dog shows mean Ballard has gone to hell. Dog show cancelled? Proof Ballard is doomed.
Somebody’s feeling cranky this morning! And tomorrow morning. And all the mornings. Some people want to be miserable and they’ll say anything to make it so.
People like you are a clear sign Ballard is turning in Crapitol Hill. Thanks. Go dye your hair.
People like you are a sign that MyBallard needs stronger authentication so the regulars will stop making up new screen names to flog their tired arguments pretending to be some other guy.
Also: slow down on the mixed use trails and sidewalks! Think of the children and little old ladies. Think about the difference between a guy who leaves filth and garbage in our parks, and a cyclist who runs into a pedestrian because he’s an entitled MAMIL trying to prove something (spoiler: no difference).
Sorry I’m too busy dodging muttering junkies to read your nonsense posts. Is it a slow day at the community college?
You have no idea who is and isn’t a junkie, Scott. Regardless of who or what they are, if you’re having to “dodge” them, your’e riding too fast. Slow down before you hurt somebody.
I’m angry and hangry.
If you’re willing to do the job, I think MyBallard might have a spot open for you. You can moderate all the comments until nobody is left that has a differing opinion to yours.
Why don’t you get off your computer and go ask business owners how they like doing business in Ballard? Like the owners of Classic consignment and the QFC manager. I think you might have a different opinion of the homeless. Have you ever owned a business? I highly doubt it.
Where are the empty storefronts? How come Trader Joe’s, and Target, and New Seasons, and PCC, all took a look at QFC’s wretched plight, choked by filth and besieged by junkies, unable to make a profit because they lose so much to shoplifting and spend so much cleaning up after the street scum and paying for security, and they all decided to jump into Ballard with both feet?
Does that add up? Small business owners all think they’re God’s special chosen victim. They always bitch and moan and whine. No matter how well they do, they are happy to take another subsidy or tax cut or make a sympathy sale to a customer who saw them crying tears on TV. I thin they teach “flopping”, playing the ref, in Entrepreneurship 101.
Now you’re going to accuse me of daring to not suck the cocks of every small business owner. Because one of the right wing P.C. rules is thou shalt bow down before small business. I don’t hate small business owners. They’re fine. But they’re human and they know how the game is played.
You can’t fake retail space vacancy rates. You can’t fake Target signing a lease or New Seasons opening its doors. That’s where the truth comes out. Ballard is obviously a hot market where business are falling over each other to get in and make money. Ballard’s problem is NOT urban blight and junkies. It’s gentrification. It’s TOO much business success, to much money being made. The changes to the area are happening too fast to let the dust settle.
An overheated economy, too much growth, gentrification? Those are real. The homeless? That is a real problem for them. For business? No. Businesses are getting rich in Ballard. Look with your eyes.
Good luck on the the new location. Hopefully the current location is not chosen for a safe injection site.
I think it depends. Maybe that’s the kind of ‘candy’ they like.
If it is chosen for a safe injection site a lot of people will be moving from the apartments around the park.
maybe they’ll make it a police point, that’d be rad.