Capitol Hill is dead — The Rhino Room is selling couches

(Image: CHS)

Six months after going dark and quietly ending its 11-year run of Capitol Hill nightlife, the former Rhino Room space at 11th and Pine is suddenly filled with furniture as custom retailer Couch has moved to Capitol Hill from Ballard.

“Pick one of our thoughtfully designed styles or work with us to come up with a new variation. We are custom builders in the truest sense of the word,” the store’s pitch goes. “Custom elsewhere can mean you get to choose blue instead of gray. At Couch it means you design a sofa in your exact size, style and comfort specifications.”

Founder Ameer Radwan has been in the custom furniture business in Seattle for 17 years and moved the company’s retail presence from Ballard where a San Francisco-based children’s furniture brand has moved in. Couch’s couches are manufactured in Los Angeles.

The new activity at 10th and Union is hopefully a good sign for better times ahead for the auto row-era White Motor Company building. Efforts from property owner Legacy Commercial to upgrade the building under the city’s preservation guidelines in hopes of attracting new office tenants continue. Those office floors still sit empty after The Stranger moved out in 2020.

An early component of Seattle’s REI history, the prominent terra cotta-faced building at 11th and Pine has stood at the corner since 1918.

A Couch couch (Image: Couch)

As for the demise of Capitol Hill, it has been a long, slow, wonderful death. The Hill has suffered through furniture retail before. Most recently, big chain Joybird, the Toledo Pewter, Essence Ash, and Bentley Daisey-colored, online-focused furniture wing of La-Z-Boy, opened in 2023 around the block in the 10th Ave space formerly home to record shop Everyday Music.

Meanwhile, Couch will soon be joined in the new Pike/Pine retail class of 2025 by the arrival of the World of Smoke & Vape chain on E Pike. Maybe you can buy a smoking chair.

Couch is now open at 1535 11th Ave. Learn more at couchseattle.com.

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