SEATTLE — A line snaked around the block, and traffic was a nightmare as the owners of upscale Canlis Restaurant held a one-time-only flea market.
People arrived two hours early. An hour after the sale started, just about everything was gone.
It surprised the owner of Canlis.
But apparently, people just wanted a piece of this iconic restaurant.
The line outside Canlis Restaurant spilled out dangerously close to Highway 99.
Traffic was a nightmare, too—all for a chance to score items from the iconic Seattle restaurant on the cheap.
Most live here in Seattle. But Laurie Smiley now calls New Orleans home.
“I’m here because I’ve been coming here for decades,” said Smiley. “It seemed like a fun thing to do, and I was in town for a few days.”
“I just wanted a piece of history, I guess,” said Jada Brazil of Seattle, laughing. “I just kind of wanted to get a mug, but it looks like that isn’t going to happen.”
This could be a case of whoever got here on time gets, well, whatever’s left.
Bennett Buchholz of Seattle had heard some people were outside at 10 a.m. Friday.
“That is ridiculous,” he said. “But they got the good stuff. I got a cheese board. But I’ll take the cheese board.”
Even the goldfish were up for grabs, too.
“He has black on him,” said Shannon Galiotto of Seattle, of the goldfish she was adopting. “He’s unique. He’s special.”
In some ways, this is just another zany idea Mark Canlis and his brother came up with during the pandemic to keep the restaurant afloat.
“I am recently a flea market mogul,” said Canlis. “I think flea market is Canlis’s new business model.”
He’s kidding, of course, but he thinks he knows why so many people showed up.
“You put a bunch of pandemic Canlis stuff in a yurt, I don’t know,” said Canlis. “It’s a beautiful sunny day. It’s time to get out. The weather is awesome. We need some of this.”
“This family has so much heart and there’s so much soul in everything they do,” said Jane Hesslein of Seattle, “that just having a little piece at home makes me feel good.”
The one thing not sold were these yurts. Mrs. Canlis says they will be donated to Camp Sambica in Bellevue.
Mark Canlis estimates they took in about $1,100. He says they’ll put it toward the big renovation of their kitchen.
And like restaurants all over Seattle, they’re hiring.