1507 Queen Anne Avenue: 1908 – 1938, 30 years at Queen Anne location
Augustine & Kyer was a grand, upscale grocery store with origins in Seattle’s early years. It was Seattle’s “Pure Food Purveyor”, selling food and merchandise of the highest quality. It also provided superior order and delivery service to its customers. Its stores flourished from 1907 until the 1930’s when, unfortunately, it succumbed to the Great Depression.
The history of Augustine & Kyer begins with an English grocer named Charles Louch. In 1885, Louch opened a wood frame grocery store on Front Street (later renamed First Avenue) in what was eventually to become downtown Seattle. The sign above the entry read, “Cigars Tobacco Groceries & Provisions”[i]. The 1885-86 Polk’s City Directory listed Louch as one of only 22 Seattle grocers.
In 1892, Louch formed a partnership with Manual Brock Augustine. Before settling in Seattle, M. B. Augustine lived in Silver City, Nevada, where he owned a general merchandise and mining supply store, and in Oakland, California, where he was a salesman for J.A. Folger, the coffee company.
In 1893, Louch, Augustine & Company moved its store to the new Colman Building at the corner of First Avenue and Marion Street. The store prospered in the late 1890’s during the Klondike gold rush, aided by Augustine’s experience as a mining supplier. The years 1907–1908 brought major changes . Louch and M.B. Augustine sold the company to Henry Kyer, Augustine’s son Julius was promoted to Vice President, and Kyer changed the company’s name to Augustine & Kyer. Kyer had been married to Alice Augustine, M.B. Augustine’s daughter, but they divorced in 1908, two days before Kyer purchased the company.[ii] …Continue reading “Remembering Queen Anne’s Neighborhood Grocery Stores:
Augustine & Kyer”
