The Shakabrah is cool because it has been around forever (25 years or so) and gone through a few iterations of itself without losing the environment that has turned it into a staple over time, nothing cooler in Tacoma than being around for a reason. Its placement in the 6th Ave district is definitely a help but it’s the food, people, service and the experience that keep the word of mouth reviews rolling in. Since about 2015, Tacoma has been in a serious growing phase and it’s resulted in a lot of change in ownership and that’s continuing to happen. Some of them have been really bad and some of them have been for the better. Shakabrah’s changes have only been to its benefit. In 2017 it changed hands and the new owners couldn’t see a reason for change. The old adage “If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.” rang true. And the changes they did make have only made it more dynamic, a remodeled kitchen, a liquor license and advancement of their espresso/coffee offering.

I have always said that Tacoma is a sandwich town but when the owners of the outpost, originally Outpost Kitchen now Outpost Sandwiches, first moved to downtown Tacoma they were right options for a unprocessed sandwich were dismal and unexciting. Tacoma is fortunate they decided to do something about it. Since their opening Outpost continues to grow as a staple in the downtown Tacoma lunch service. It was interesting to see the growth in real time. It felt as though it was all word-of-mouth. Someone would leave the office on a lunch adventure and return to the office with a sandwich sleeved in parchment paper and I’m sure the questions arose. “Oh, that’s smells good, oh where did you find that? Oh, how much was it? Oh, how long have they been around?” Eventually, the questions stopped and the praise began, local clothier and community business eTc Tacoma has collaborated with their downtown neighbor Outpost in the past as well. Outpost has also done community outreach and given back through portions of proceeds going to feeding kids for the Summer via specialty lunch meals, put together for Daz Deal community programming another downtown activation. The owners are a handsome couple and one treat of the experience is seeing how in unison they are preparing lunch orders, call-in orders and moving seamlessly together. The food is so good they’ve even had IG accounts start their content rollout with just their sandwich offering. There’s a lot of reasons to love this business if you can find it.

The Church Cantina When you’re in a city full of bars, pubs and dives, setting yourself apart from being “just another bar” is about curating the crowd and achieving this feat is usually predicated on the atmosphere. It should be obvious that decor is a major part of marketing your business and grabbing your piece of the market through your target customer. Church Cantina has done an amazing job of this and it starts at the name. A church theme can attract those with gothic ideologies or personal style, especially in the evening. Traditionally, a Cantina serves drinks and meals and has decor specific to a crowd or less popular audience. I have to say they checked all the boxes. Their logo is a Gothic style cathedral with ‘The Church Cantina’ written underneath in the same gothic style font with a red and black color scheme used for their menu.

Timing is so crucial to starting a business and any sustainable small business owner will vouch for that. But it’s not just timing of course, your entry into the market needs to be impressive as well. Shed Studios has both and it’s been working for them ever since. It also has the golden ticket, location, on the corner of Opera Alley in the 705 Court C building so there’s decent parking and depending on the time you’re surrounded by food and entertainment.