Walk two blocks on 32nd Avenue NW in Sunset Hill and you pass three storefronts close enough to share a parking strip. Baker's, the cocktail bar at 6408. Molly's Bottle Shop, the wine shop at 6406, barely 200 square feet, tucked in right beside it. Salmonberry Green Grocer at 6405, across the narrow lot. On a Tuesday evening you might see the same three or four people cycle through all three doors in under an hour, which is close to the point of this story.
In January, Baker's told its regulars it was closing for good after nearly seven years. By August, it hadn't. What happened in between is not a simple reopening. It's the second time in two years that a business on this stretch avoided closure after someone with existing ties to the block stepped in: Rothstein and Johnstone took over the Green Market, and Molly Ringe bought Baker's.
Two Rescues, Two Years Apart
In early 2024, word went around that the old Sunset Hill Green Market at 6405 was closing. David Rothstein and Alex Johnstone, who already ran Salmonberry Goods as a subscription farm box and pop-up coffee operation, took it over and reopened it as Salmonberry Green Grocer. They were neighbors who had spent years selling coffee and produce at the same farmers markets the Green Market's vendors relied on.
Two years later, the pattern repeated a few doors down. Baker's owner filed for bankruptcy and announced the bar would close on January 31, 2026, citing what the owners called a myriad of factors. The owners paused the closure to explore options. What emerged was Molly Ringe, who tended bar at Baker's when it first opened in 2019 and who now owns Molly's Bottle Shop next door, stepping in to buy the bar. She launched a fundraiser to cover wages, inventory, repairs, and licensing, and it raised more than $30,000 in its first week toward a goal of $30,000 to $75,000. The sale officially closed in July 2026.
| Year | Business | What almost happened | Who stepped in |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Sunset Hill Green Market | Announced closure | David Rothstein and Alex Johnstone of Salmonberry Goods, reopened as Salmonberry Green Grocer |
| 2026 | Baker's | Owner filed for bankruptcy, announced January closure | Molly Ringe, owner of Molly's Bottle Shop next door |
Two businesses, two years apart, faced closure and were taken over by operators with local ties: Salmonberry Goods' David Rothstein and Alex Johnstone reopened the Green Market, and Molly Ringe bought Baker's. The circumstances differed, but both changes kept storefronts in use.
"This block is like a small town in a big city."
That's how Rothstein put it in KING 5's report on the Baker's sale. It reads like a pleasant sentiment until you notice it's also a description of how the economics actually work here.
Local Connections Around Two Rescues
A 200-square-foot wine shop doesn't generate the kind of margin that funds a rescue on its own. What it generates is proximity: Ringe already curated the wine list at Baker's before she owned it, already knew the staff, already had customers who walked between both doors in the same visit. When Baker's faltered, the person best positioned to absorb the risk wasn't a restaurant group scouting Seattle neighborhoods. It was someone already standing at the counter next door.
The Green Market takeover had different details. Rothstein and Johnstone already ran Salmonberry Goods as a subscription farm box and pop-up coffee operation, and had spent years selling coffee and produce at the same farmers markets as the Green Market's vendors. They took over the lease and reopened the space as Salmonberry Green Grocer.
This complicates the version of small-business resilience that gets repeated in most neighborhood coverage, the idea that a strong local economy is mostly a function of foot traffic and rent levels. Downtown Ballard alone saw roughly 30 business closures against more than 35 openings in 2025, a churn rate that shows even a busy commercial district isn't immune to turnover. Sunset Hill's tiny cluster has weathered two near-losses in two years without losing a single storefront. In both cases, an operator with local ties stepped in, though these examples alone don't establish a single reason the businesses survived.
That's a different kind of stability than the one real estate conversations usually measure. It doesn't show up in a vacancy rate. On this stretch of 32nd Avenue, it can be seen in the proximity between Baker's and Molly's Bottle Shop, and in the local ties around the former Green Market.
The Block Right Now
As of this writing, Baker's is open under Ringe's ownership, still pouring the same cocktail list, still stocking the natural wine program she originally built. Ringe's approach, as Seattle Refined reported, is "community not competition," and both of her storefronts continue to lean on the same customer base moving back and forth across the sidewalk.
A few blocks up, Sunset Hill Park still holds the view that makes this stretch of the neighborhood worth the walk in the first place, Puget Sound and the Olympics laid out below a small, quiet overlook. And down the hill at Golden Gardens, the 2026 beach fire season closed out on September 7, the traditional Labor Day cutoff for the first-come, first-served pits that have drawn Sunset Hill residents down to the water all summer.
None of these are separate stories stitched together for the sake of a roundup. They're the same neighborhood doing what it does in early September: closing out a season at the beach, while two recent business transitions on one block of 32nd Avenue show local operators stepping in when a storefront faced closure.
If you're weighing what it actually means to own property in a neighborhood like this, that kind of block-level loyalty is worth understanding before you compare it to somewhere else. You can see more of what daily life looks like across Sunset Hill's streets and bluff, or browse the broader Sunset Hill neighborhood page for a fuller picture.
If you're thinking about buying, selling, or just want a grounded read on what a specific block or street is actually like to live on, Samie Bryan has spent two decades watching how these small commercial pockets shape the neighborhoods around them. Let's Connect.
