In the latest development in Vashon’s recent business shuffle, the owners of Hinge Gallery have bought the red house that has been home to Giraffe at the north end of town. The gallery, gift shop and frame shop will move in next month.
“It’s just the cutest building ever,” Brent Houston, who owns Hinge Gallery with his wife Holly, said last week. “We knew it was going to be a big deal. A whole lot of people helped out.”
The Houstons are currently renting a space between VALISE Gallery and Glass Bottle Creamery, and Houston said he had been hoping for a more permanent situation for the business.
“With renting, it’s always risky. Our goal was to get a home base for Hinge, and there’s so much more you can do when you buy. There’s more creative license,” he said.
Getting the house was a whirlwind, as he said he was worried about missing his chance since Vashon is such a small town and is so connected.
“I got the scoop from the ice cream shop next door (Glass Bottle Creamery),” he said.
Houston said he walked into the creamery weeks ago and the creamery’s owner told him the building would be on the market the next day.
“That got me thinking,” Houston said.
After pulling “a lot of strings” on their end, Houston said, they had an offer in the third day after it went on the market. One other person had also bid.
“We’re just so thrilled. I need to give a shoutout to Sophia (the realtor). We wouldn’t have this building if it wasn’t for her. She understood the quickness of the process,” Houston said.
Giraffe owner Priscilla Schleigh, who has been renting the historic home for roughly a decade from islanders Deb and Gib Dammann, will move to the former Spyder’s Ski and Sports space next month, and Houston said he hopes to be ready in his new building by the First Friday of June.
“We sell things for the home; framing and art is for the home, so we’re excited to be able to have our business in a house. It makes sense,” Houston said.
The building also comes with an upstairs guest suite rented out by tourists throughout the year. Houston said that suite will continue being used, but will become the Art House Suite and will get a new look.
“We’re definitely going to continue that suite,” Houston said. “We are aiming for it to be ready as soon as possible.”
Hinge Gallery has been an island business for a year and a half, working out of the location next to VALISE. Houston said business has been “very good” and has exceeded expectations. This move is a way to become a more permanent part of Vashon, he said.
“Vashon has invested in us as a business,” Houston said, “and now we’re investing in Vashon in a more permanent way.”
