Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 3, March 2003

Copyright 2003 Seattle Sun. Please feel free to use the article and photos below in your research. Be sure to quote the Seattle Sun as your source.

Peet's coming to Fremont

Peet's Coffee and Tea Inc., a San Francisco-based specialty coffee roaster/retailer, recently announced plans to open a coffeehouse in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood its first in this state.

The Peet's store will be located on the corner of N. 34th Street and Fremont Avenue N., in the newly named Epicenter Building (formerly known as the Block 40 Project), which is currently under construction. The Peet's store is set to open this summer.

"We're very pleased" with the Fremont site, said Patrick O'Dea,CEO of Peet's.

Founder Alfred Peet opened the first Peet's coffeehouse in 1966 in Berkeley, Calif., near the University of California.

The coffeehouse chain served as the chief inspiration behind Seattle's own Starbucks coffee company, which was launched in the early 1970s after its founder visited a Peet's in the Bay Area.

While Starbucks has grown into a corporate behemoth, with thousands of stores around the world, Peet's has expanded at a more modest pace, with only 65 stores in four states today. It also sells coffee and tea via the Internet.

"Peet's enjoys hiring artists, crafts people and students from the communities around our stores," its Web site says.