Capitol Hill’s Station 7 Passes The Keys To A New Owner Ahead Of A New Season On 15th Ave E

By Brenna Gauchat

Jamie Marcello was not expecting to take over Capitol Hill boutique Station 7 this year. But after Mary Jensen, long-time owner of the 11-year-old locally-sourced gift shop and its online store, announced she was ready to pass the baton, Marcello was ready to accept the responsibility in keeping the small business alive.

Station 7 has a tradition of passing down the keys to its 15th Ave E shop. The small business was started by Danielle Tilden who passed it down to her daughter Lauren. And after working alongside Tilden for years, Jensen now holds the keys to the shop housed in a long ago Capitol Hill fire station.

“[There has been] so much learning that’s been happening between myself and Mary,” Marcello said about the first few weeks navigating the logistical and financial aspects of transferring ownership.

Although this is Marcello’s first ownership role, she said Jensen has been walking beside her every step of the way. “She’s a great mentor. She wants me to succeed.”

Marcello was first introduced to Station 7 as a Seattle University student, when she worked on a project to encourage more engagement between students and small businesses.

From there, she worked intermittently during college, alternating between full- or part-time and occasionally filling in the gaps when the store needed extra hands. She said throughout the years, she “kind of grew along with the shop.”

“This is a shop that’s been so important to me for such a long part of my life,” Marcello said. “I just felt like, wow, this is such a unique, exciting opportunity. I can’t wait to jump in.”

In 2025, Station 7 posted an “honest overview” detailing its revenue, expenses, and profit margin. The infographic reads, “To be honest, this year so far has been really tough. We’re losing a lot more than we’re making: just over 2.5x more, actually.”

For many small businesses, owners see an influx in revenue during the holiday season, which Marcello said can come with its own pressure to hit the goals and sales needed to budget for the upcoming year.

But running a small business is “always a risk,” Marcello said. There is also the long path for this era of 15th Ave small businesses to navigate as the neighborhood awaits a massive redevelopment in the heart of the commercial strip right next door to Station 7.

Earlier this year, Ada’s Technical Books closed after its 16-year-long run.

In September, CHS reported the shuttering of three 15th Ave establishments: Rione XIII, Rubinstein Bagels, and Bar Vacilando due to building and landlord issues.

Now, the darkened businesses’ empty windows face Station 7 and Marcello said she feels the weight of their absence.

“Even going into the shop the other day, I was really excited. I was like, ‘Wow, I got a parking spot so easily, this never happens,’” Marcello said. “And then I had to sit with that and then realize, ‘Oh, that’s because people aren’t really on the street as much anymore.’”

Station 7, the gift shop, resides in Capitol Hill’s historic Fire Station 7 which was built in 1920, decommissioned a few decades later, and revived in 1970 by the community-based, architectural and design firm, Environmental Works or EWorks.

EWorks has owned and operated out of the firehouse since the 70s, providing architectural and urban planning services to primarily under-served communities and organizations across Washington.

Marcello said it has been “very reassuring” to know the firm is taking care of upkeep on the more than 100-year-old building, taking the responsibility off her shoulders and into safe hands.

“We love the building. We love where we’re at,” Marcello said, with no current plans to move or do any major renovations. “We really want, in this transition, for people and customers to walk in and still feel very much familiar in the same place that they’ve been going to.”

Station 7 opened in the building in the summer of 2015 — before that, the space was home to the last video rental shop on Capitol Hill, On 15th Video.

That is the past. The future is coming. Station 7 is lined up to get somewhere around 172 new neighbors in one of the biggest changes ever for the street in a six-story redevelopment of the old QFC and parking lot just north of the old firehouse.

In Station 7’s more immediate future, Marcello encourages customers to treat holiday shopping like it is “voting with your dollars,” a motto she heard from a fellow local business enthusiast and carries with her.

“As people want life to be more and more convenient, people are sometimes stepping away from more intentional buying,” Marcello said. Station 7 prides itself on sourcing local and handmade goods, with over 70% of its in-shop products belonging to local, women-owned businesses, according to its website.

“I’m definitely hopeful that people will continue to see the value in buying from makers in our community.”

Marcello also said she is in the process of setting up various workshops for the upcoming winter months, including an upcycled gift wrapping event and inviting a watercolor artist to host a class.

Station 7 will also join 15th Ave businesses in the second annual Capitol Hill Holiday Wine Walk on December 9, which Marcello said “will just be another really fun moment for the neighborhood to come together.”

To stay updated on Station 7 news or upcoming events, visit its Instagram or station7seattle.com.

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