Couple discovers that once a brewer, always a brewer

Shortly after Charles and Rose Ann Finkel bought back Pike Brewing, they took some of their beer to a party, threw the bottles in a tub of ice and watched in horror as the wet labels slid off.

"We held them up and said, 'I think this one is this and this one is that,' " Rose Ann said.

Finding a new labeler became a top priority, right after redesigning labels for about a dozen beers, including the popular Pike Kilt Lifter and Pike Pale.

The Finkels founded Pike Brewing in 1989 and sold it in eight years later. Since buying it back from a private family company in Tukwila in May 2006, the Finkels have updated its equipment, its look and the menu for its pub. Executive chef Gary Marx, there since the 1990s, remains.

The pub, on First Avenue south of the official boundary for Pike Place Market, has a vast collection of beer-industry memorabilia on its brightly repainted walls.

Charles said he's particularly pleased with photographs, postcards and other items depicting Washington's hops craze from the 1880s.

There are also period tap handles, old matchbooks and beer labels, and a replica of the hatchet used by temperance leader Carrie Nation to hack up taverns in the early 1900s.

The price of hops and other materials has risen so much that Pike raised its prices last fall by about $1 a six-pack.

Pike Brewing is one of the state's 10 largest breweries, producing 6,330 barrels through November, according to the Washington State Liquor Control Board.

About half of its sales are bottles and half are draft, largely to other pubs and restaurants. The company sells beer in Washington, Oregon, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Utah and British Columbia.

The Finkels want to boost beer production but have no plans to open another pub. They are renting about 10,000 square feet of warehouse space in Seattle's South Lake Union neighborhood for raw materials and packaging.

The couple have worked as entrepreneurs in the wine, specialty-food and beer industries. They sold Pike Brewing and a beer-importing business called Merchant du Vin in 1997 after they were approached by the buyers, whom they decline to name.

The Finkels did not buy back the importing business and do not disclose the sale price for any of the transactions.

During their years away from Pike Brewing, the couple traveled and volunteered for the slow-food movement, then started looking for another business opportunity. Importing beer to Asia was one possibility before they learned the brewery and pub were for sale.

"When we sold it, we were doing a couple thousand barrels," Charles said. "Now our overall goal is to make it a world-class brewery."

— Melissa Allison

Clothing retailer H&M will open two more Seattle-area stores than previously thought: one at Westfield Southcenter in Tukwila, the other at 520 Pike St. in downtown Seattle, where it will replace a Kenneth Cole store. H&M also plans a 19,000-square-foot store at University Village, as announced in August. All three are to open this fall.

The retailer will occupy 25,000 square feet on two floors in a newly developed area of Southcenter mall, as well as 16,000 square feet at downtown's 520 Pike Tower.

No word yet on whether Kenneth Cole will reopen elsewhere downtown. A spokeswoman for the company could not be reached, and a representative of the tower's New York-based owner, Tishman Speyer, declined to comment.

Based in Sweden, H&M has been called the fashion world's equivalent of Ikea because it sells trendy yet inexpensive clothes. It made its U.S. debut in 2000 in New York and operates 146 stores nationwide. — AM

Christine Day , one of Howard Schultz's first hires at Il Giornale, a company he founded in the 1980s that bought Starbucks two years later, has left the coffee giant to be executive vice president of retail operations at the Vancouver, B.C.-based apparel company lululemon athletica.

Day, 45, was president of Starbucks' Asia-Pacific Group until last February. Lululemon will pay her a salary of $365,000 — that's Canadian dollars — plus options and an annual bonus of at least 60 percent of her salary. — MA

A new spa promising technology-based skin care has opened in Seattle's Sodo neighborhood. The Bio-Therapeutic Anti-Aging Skin Spa is owned by Seattle-based medical-device company Bio-Therapeutic. The spa uses low-power battery currents to improve skin tone and elasticity, and encourage collagen regeneration, said manager Blanca Gutierrez. A treatment takes about 75 minutes and costs $180. — AM

Washington Square , Bellevue's massive new mixed-use development, says Top Pot Doughnuts and Shnoo Yogurt will be among the retailers opening there in the first half of this year. — MA

The Talbots Kids store at Bellevue Square will close sometime this year. Talbots, of Hingham, Mass., said last week it is exiting its children's and men's businesses to focus on its core customer base: women 35 and up. The Bellevue Square store is Talbots Kids' only Washington location. A date for its closure has not yet been determined. There are no Talbots Men's stores in the state. — AM

Village Foods IGA in Snoqualmie has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under its corporate name, Village Food Markets. Executives there did not return phone calls. — MA

Caroline's Desserts , a five-year-old baked-goods company in Redmond, plans to move to a larger production facility this year so it can sell its shortbreads, sugar cookies and Krispettes — flavored rice-cereal squares — outside Washington. The location has not yet been disclosed. — MA

Retail Report appears Fridays. Melissa Allison covers the food and beverage industry. She can be reached at 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com. Amy Martinez covers goods, services and online retail. She can be reached at 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com.