Richmond Beach's Little Store Is Back, and Fall Starts at Its Corner

On the first Friday of June, roughly 400 pounds of cut strawberries needed somewhere cold to wait overnight. Every year the Richmond Beach Strawberry Festival depends on those berries for its signature shortcake. Every year the store at the corner of 196th Street and 20th Avenue has kept them cool before the Saturday event. In 2026 that job went to a business that had only just opened its doors. The Osprey reported that "the newly-opened Richmond Beach Foods will carry the torch," and noted that the store's logo has a pair of strawberries on it.

That detail explains what reopened on that corner. Richmond Beach got a new place for coffee and a sandwich, and it also got back a piece of how the neighborhood runs. This is the store's first fall in its new form. The library is closed for a roof replacement and the community association's calendar is heading into its busiest stretch, so the corner is doing more work than usual.

The name came back before the doors opened

Locals will keep calling it the Little Store, and the owners know that. "Do we still call it the Little Store? Yes, we do," co-owner Lauren Peterson told The Osprey in March. She and Norene Roberts, the other owner, are going back to the name they knew as kids, Richmond Beach Foods.

Both owners grew up in Richmond Beach a block apart. They were born two days apart to mothers who are best friends. Roberts came to the store after a career in social work. Peterson spent more than 20 years at QFC, doing "just about every job you could do in the store" before she moved to the corporate office.

County documents suggest the building went up in 1927, and over the years it has operated as a meat market and a grocery. A 1998 Seattle Post-Intelligencer story described neighbors stopping in for coffee and gossip and using a post office counter inside the shop. Sun and Sung Gwak ran the store for 19 years before closing on September 30, 2025.

Reopening took longer than planned. The owners had hoped in December to open in February. By March, city permitting delays had pushed the target to April or May. The floors and most of the painting were finished by then, and ten full- and part-time staff had already been hired. The store was open by early June, in time to take the strawberries.

What's on the shelves now

Richmond Beach Foods is at 2002 NW 196th St and open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. The store's site lists these categories:

• A full-service coffee bar
• Locally sourced pastries and baked goods
• Grab-and-go sandwiches, salads and snack boxes
• Cheese and charcuterie
• Beer, wine and cider
• Pantry staples, flowers, gifts from local makers, and candy

The owners described the stock as what you grab "in a pinch" between bigger trips to Town and Country or QFC. They also want it to be a place to sit with a coffee or a pint, with an "absolutely stellar" candy section. Outside there's a Stick Lending Library, with a sign that reads "take a stick, leave a stick." Roberts built it while waiting on permits.

Blackbird Cafe & Bar sits across the intersection at 1843 NW 195th Street. It's open 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily for dine-in and takeout, serves breakfast and brunch on weekends, and runs happy hour from 3 to 5 p.m. every day. The building used to be Hill's Restaurant & Bar. With both businesses open, the corner now has places to eat from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

"When we were kids, it was definitely the center of the neighborhood," Roberts told The Osprey. "I could stop in there when I was walking to Syre (Elementary School) if my mom gave me some money to go buy lunch."

Why this fall leans on the corner

The owners told The Osprey they saw the store as a possible anchor for people heading to the library, the park, the strawberry festival or the water. The next seven weeks run through that same route.

The Richmond Beach Library is closed September 20 through October 26 while King County Library System installs a metal roof. During the closure there is no book drop and no parking lot access. Holds go to the Shoreline Library automatically and switch back when the branch reopens on October 27. Story Time returns on Thursday, October 29. KCLS doesn't charge late fines, so books can wait until then or go back at another branch.

That leaves a five-week gap in one of the neighborhood's regular weekday stops, and the Richmond Beach Community Association's fall dates fall on both sides of it. Here's the fall calendar, starting from today, October 10:

Carnival week, then the long run-up to Thanksgiving

The Halloween Carnival has the usual booths: Duck Pond, the Fishing Booth, Musical Cakes and inflatables. The first hour is a soft opening for kids who need a quieter start, which is useful for families whose kids find a packed gym overwhelming at 3 p.m. RBCA is also looking for volunteers to run game tables and help with setup and cleanup. Syre is the school Roberts walked to as a kid, with stops at the store on the way. The carnival brings that route back for one Saturday.

Ten days later the library reopens, and the corner goes back to its usual pattern of library visits, coffee and errands on foot. That's the arrangement the owners described in March, and this will be the store's first stretch of it with every piece in place.

The year ends at the shoreline. At 9 a.m. on Thanksgiving, the 19th annual Turkey Day Fun Run meets at the entrance to Saltwater Park for a run or walk through Richmond Beach. That's the same 19 years the Gwaks ran the store. The Holiday Tree Lighting on December 5 rounds out RBCA's 2026 calendar.

What's still unsettled at 196th and 20th

Some of the old Little Store traditions haven't come back yet. Roberts remembers coffee, Sunday bluegrass jams and fresh prepared food from her childhood. A neighbor asked for a puzzle table, and Roberts liked the idea enough to plan on bringing her own puzzles. The store's website doesn't list either one as a regular event.

The intersection itself is also unsettled. Where 195th, 196th and 20th meet, The Osprey described "a space in transition." Blackbird Cafe, a small fire station and a few service businesses are there. The former Wild Horse Bar and Grill building has stood empty since the business closed in 2005, through several remodels.

When the Little Store closed, neighbors worried that the nearly century-old building would be torn down for a large development. Instead, it has its old name back, stays open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. every day, and kept the strawberries cold for this year's festival.

A corner store you can walk to is hard to put in a listing photo. If you're wondering what that walkability adds to your home's value this fall, Adam Cobb & Team can help. Request your complimentary home valuation, and we'll include what's open within walking distance of your street.