New Salt & Straw will open across from Pike Place Market after all

Portland-based ice cream titan Salt & Straw announced two new Seattle-area scoop shops Thursday morning.

Cousins Tyler and Kim Malek will unfurl their signature red-and-white awnings sometime this year at 102 Pike St., Seattle, in the 2,453-square-foot space across from Pike Place Market that was most recently a Starbucks. The second location is planned for a new building steps away from the Redmond light rail station. That shop, at 16595 Redmond Way, clocks in at 1,282 square feet.

The goal is to open both new Greater Seattle shops by the end of 2025 — with an expected 20 employees at each location.

“It’s a big investment in Seattle,” said Kim Malek, “but we’ve had such support from the city and all the local collaborations we’ve done. We’ve frankly been looking and looking to find the right next thing for years and years — and these two came together at the same time.”

The ice cream company, known for inventive flavors like pear and blue cheese alongside classics like double fold vanilla, launched as a food cart in 2011. Salt & Straw now boasts 43 stores in seven states — four of which are in Washington. The two stores announced Thursday will join Seattle locations in Ballard and on Capitol Hill, while a planned Queen Anne shop is also set to open this year.

Tyler Malek grew up in Snohomish while Kim Malek spent much of her adult life in Seattle. Although they both now live in Portland, opening this downtown Seattle shop is a “full-circle moment” for the cousins.

“Pike Place Market is the most iconic farmers market,” Kim Malek said, “and when it comes to the food world, there could not be a more special place to be a part of. It represents so much of what we dreamed of when I came up with the idea.”

Tyler Malek added that “I think there’s something really special about visiting Salt & Straw when you’re in staycation mode.”

“Every month or so (growing up), we would drive into Seattle and get to walk along the market. It’s really special to be in that space.”