Sometimes pushy, sometimes distant, Amazon keeps businesses near its Seattle HQ alive

Before the pandemic, Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood was filled with technicians, tourists, and residents. There were queues in front of the popular lunch spots.

The neighborhood quickly turned into a ghost town when the pandemic broke out. It is not anymore.

In some parts of Seattle, neighborhoods appear to have fallen into a coma during the pandemic. But it’s just a little sleepy along 6th and 7th Avenues in the shadow of Amazon’s spheres.

There is a quiet but constant hum of activity. Security guards and landscapers trudge up and down the sidewalks. And there are some people who walk dogs. A casual worker with a sandwich.

However, as in every other district, some business has failed here too.

Lucy Xioa lives across from Amazon. She lost track of all the restaurants that went under.

“I have a list of things on my phone that I want to try,” said Xioa. “And after the Covid, I click on a place and it says it’s permanently closed so I just have to delete it.”

But more often companies here say that they are still open today because of Amazon. An Amazon spokesman said the company has so far spent $ 16 million through its Neighborhood Small Business Relief Fund. The company doesn’t want to comment on which local businesses have benefited, but it’s not difficult to come up with examples.

The Robert Leonard Salon is across from Amazon. On the day I visited, women sat on chairs with stylists and had color corrections and “Brazilian blowouts” made. Some sat at a counter by the window looking at the balls and looking at their phones while small pieces of foil in their hair worked their magic.

Becca Stordahl started here as a stylist years ago. Now she is one of the owners.

One of her clients told her about Amazon’s scholarship program. She applied on her cell phone and learned via email that her company had received $ 43,000. She never interacted with a human on Amazon to receive this scholarship.

“I didn’t even know who to send a thank you card to,” she said. “I mean, I replied when we got it – there was a place for comments – but I don’t know who got it or what? . It would have been nice to know who … I could have really thanked you. “

The same thing happened at the Seattle Glassblowing Studio, a few blocks away. Manager Cyrena Stefano wanted Amazon to know she was grateful and put a large vinyl sign saying “Thank You Amazon” in her window.

“Because it’s huge, isn’t it?” she said about the grant.

In general, it seems that the closer companies are to Amazon, the more help companies get during the pandemic. And you can’t get any closer to Amazon than renting a room in one of the Amazon buildings.

Willmott’s Ghost is an Italian restaurant at the foot of the Amazon Spheres. Jeremy Price is one of the owners.

“I know Amazon can be a controversial topic for people,” he says. “Our experiences with you as a landlord, as a tenant of yours are really positive.”

He says Amazon hasn’t asked for rent in a year and a half and won’t let them pay until their earnings start rising again. And as far as he knows, Amazon canceled this debt entirely.

“I would say we couldn’t have stayed without this help,” said Price.

Mamnoon Street is another restaurant on the same street. It specializes in quick meals for Amazon during lunch. When I visited the kitchen was full of workers. But only one customer stood at the counter, waiting for his meal.

Ángela Ortez-Davis is the manager here. She says Amazon also rented her company. It also prompted her business to open a little earlier than she was ready.

“I understand why you want it to be busy,” she said. “It’s just really terrifying, as a manager of people in the middle of a pandemic, to know which of these decisions will make the most sense for everyone; for everyone’s paycheck and for everyone’s health. “

But she says it was worth it knowing Amazon will survive the pandemic, and now it will.

“I’m pretty grateful at this point because I feel like we’re clinging to something bigger than us that frankly takes more to fall.”

In addition to lease facilitation, Amazon currently offers free marketing support to at least 31 companies that rent space in its South Lake Union buildings. These include a bakery for dogs (called “Barkery”) and a pop-up store for the record label Subpop.

“They brought in influencers, came over and made videos – so they’re definitely trying to promote our store and the rest of the campus,” said subpop manager Rachel Rhymes.

Amazon has a big influence on who is successful here. But not every company in the area receives the same level of protection.

Kitty Corner from Amazon’s Spheres is Dimitrious’s Jazz Alley. It’s been here a lot longer than Amazon.

Ari Dimitrious manages the place. He says his business depends on visitors from all over the region, from Vancouver to Portland. He rarely sees Amazon employees in his club.

“They leave their parking space to us, which is wonderful of them,” he said. “But we did not seek help and they did not reach us. So we didn’t get any help from Amazon. I mean that’s fine, you know. But we are grateful for what they have done for our neighbors. “

But his business is doing well even without Amazon. On the night I visited, the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio was playing in front of a packed house.

Companies around the South Lake Union expressed their gratitude for the generosity of Amazon, whether or not they received money from the company.

But generosity is probably not the right lens to look at Amazon’s actions. That’s what Jacob Vigdor, Professor of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington, says.

“Amazon is sometimes generous. Amazon is sometimes not generous, ”he says.

Vigdor cites Amazon’s struggle against corporate taxation as an example of “not being generous”. He says Amazon’s actions in the South Lake Union should be understood as part of an effort to retain a highly skilled workforce, most of whom still work from home.

“Amazon tries to make sure that the place it offers its employees when they go back to the office is still attractive,” says Vigdor.

Vigdor says that if the media is all about Amazon’s neighborhood turning into a ghost town, with no restaurants and no jazz clubs where amenities are absent, the employees who work from home could leave Amazon and get another job accept . Workers could choose to work for Facebook in Bellevue’s spring district, around a light rail station under construction. Or they could move to a remote location with a lower cost of living and join a company that would allow them to work remotely forever.

Amazon’s large presence in the South Lake Union neighborhood puts the company in a unique position to shape the environment around it.

Some may find this work generous. But Amazon also benefits.

This story is part of our The Main Street Project series, which explores our region’s economic recovery street by street.