Ballard's Newest Storefronts Deal in Things That Already Exist

A vintage refrigerator handle could no longer be replaced, so it was 3D scanned and recast. That was one of the recent jobs at We Fix Old Stuff, which opened its repair studio at 4818 14th Ave NW on Friday, Oct. 2. Its other recent work includes putting a shattered heirloom ceramic platter back together, restoring a fire-damaged chandelier brought down from Alaska, and converting European sconces for American homes.

That same Friday, a few blocks west, Ballard's first Vintage & Secondhand Crawl started. Over three days it offered discounts, food and drink specials, and live music at vintage and secondhand shops around the neighborhood. Much of what opened or got organized in Ballard this fall runs on objects that already exist, and the shop owners built the events and storefronts themselves.

A Crawl That Started With Bookstores

The vintage crawl copied an earlier one. From Friday, May 22 through Sunday, May 24, five Ballard bookstores ran the first Ballard Book Crawl with a stamp passport and a prize drawing. The five were Ballard Books, The Ink Drinker, Secret Garden, Swoon City, and Twice Sold Tales.

According to My Ballard, the book crawl drew a strong enough response that a Ballard Alliance meeting encouraged businesses to organize similar events with other groups of shops. Allison from Simple & Just and Thread Hunter co-owners Elissa Pemberton and Melissa McLennan took the idea to the neighborhood's vintage and secondhand stores. Four Ballard bars and cafes joined in with their own specials.

That makes the crawl a merchant-built event. No outside promoter set it up, and it had no stage or street closure. Shoppers picked up a "Crawl Passport" at Thread Hunter or Simple & Just to unlock discounts at the participating shops. The shop list is also a useful map of Ballard's secondhand retail, whether or not you made it out that weekend:

Most of these shops sit along Ballard Avenue and the 20th to 22nd Avenue blocks just north of Market Street. That puts the crawl walkable in an afternoon. Rotations on NW 54th Street, Soft Goods on Leary, and Rhaay on Market are the outliers. Two months passed between the book crawl in May and the August announcement of the vintage crawl. That suggests the next themed crawl, if one comes, will be announced well ahead.

Pop-Up First, Lease Second

Two of the newest names in that secondhand-and-repair group reached Ballard the same way. Each ran as a temporary operation before signing on for a permanent space.

Rotations opened in August at 1417 NW 54th St. Ballard residents Crystal and Alex combined her vintage goods with his lifelong passion for vinyl. The store started more than three years earlier as Sunday Gems, a pop-up Crystal ran. In an interview with My Ballard, she said the pop-up "gave me the confidence in my ability to curate a selection people were interested in and connected with." She also told the outlet the space they found was "just down the road from our home." The shop also stores and displays the inventory for Crowded Tables, her rental business for vintage dishware and decor. Clients planning small weddings, dinner parties, or picnics can browse it in person and pick items up themselves if they want the cheaper option.

We Fix Old Stuff came out of Moon Moon Lighting Co., the custom lighting company co-founders Ashley Zaworska and David Nebert already ran. The repair studio shares a building with it on 14th Avenue NW. Friends and family had started bringing them broken objects that had nothing to do with lighting. Earlier in 2026 they tested the repair shop at a six-month storefront in Lake City through Seattle Restored. That program is run by the Seattle Office of Economic Development with the Good Business Network of Washington. It matches small businesses with vacant storefronts for pop-ups and gives selected participants technical and financial support. We Fix Old Stuff appears on the program's 2026 participant roster, alongside Salama Vintage and Throwbacks Northwest.

The co-founders put their scope this way in a press release quoted by My Ballard:

"Lighting is our specialty, but we're happy to be your first call for other stuff, too. If we can't fix it, we'll point you toward someone who can."

Simple jobs include replacing lamp cords a puppy chewed, fixing flickering fixtures, and adding dimmers to lamps. Bigger projects can bring in glassblowers, metal platers, and other specialists. Drop-off and pickup run Friday through Sunday, and Monday through Thursday visits are by appointment. Rewiring a lamp you already love costs less effort than replacing it with something new, and now there is an address in Ballard for it at We Fix Old Stuff.

The Repair Side Was Already Here

The new storefronts joined an existing setup. A few of its pieces predate both the crawl and the repair studio.

Ballard Tool Library, 7549B 15th Ave NW, lends tools and know-how. It is open Monday and Thursday from 5 to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m. Memberships run $35 to $100, and rentals cost $1 to $20 per tool, per week. You can browse the Sustainable Ballard tool library page before you go. On Oct. 1, the Tool Library and Zero Waste Washington held a free Fix It Fair at Seattle Makers in Wallingford, with help on bikes, clothing, small appliances, furniture, toys, and electronics.

Swoon City, 1716 NW Market St., was one of the five book crawl stores. On Oct. 8 it held an embroidered-patch mending class on repairing holes in denim.

Ballard Reuse, 1440 NW 52nd St., sells salvaged and reclaimed building materials. Its contact page lists daily hours of 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., but that page dates from 2024, so confirm the hours before driving over with a measuring tape.

Ballard Consignment, 5459 Leary Ave NW, carries new, open-box, pre-loved, and vintage furniture and home decor in its showroom.

Buffalo Exchange, 2232 NW Market St., buys clothing and accessories from sellers during store hours.

Together these cover most of an object's life. You can buy it used, fix it when it breaks, borrow the tool instead of buying one, and sell or consign it when you're done. We Fix Old Stuff adds a storefront whose main business is repairing household objects.

October 17 Puts Both Halves on One Saturday

The next date on the calendar shows the same split. On Saturday, Oct. 17, two events run on the same afternoon:

1. Halloween Costume Swap, 2 to 4 p.m., at the Center for Spiritual Living Ballard, 2007 NW 61st St. Sustainable Ballard and Pass It are hosting a free exchange of costumes for adults, kids, and babies, with a mask-making station. Bring gently used costumes, accessories, and Halloween gear, and take home whatever fits.
2. HAUNTED Ballard Wine Walk, put on by the Ballard Alliance. Fifteen shops pair with 15 regional wineries, a $40 ticket covers 10 tastings, and costumes are encouraged. Details are on the Visit Ballard event page.

The costume swap is the neighborhood's reuse network at its simplest. Something a kid wore once and outgrew goes to the next kid, for free. The wine walk uses the same tool the shops used for the book and vintage crawls, a merchant-run route through storefronts. If you pick up a costume at the swap in the afternoon, you can wear it on the wine walk.

Two weeks later, downtown Ballard trick-or-treating runs on Halloween, Saturday, Oct. 31, from 4 to 6 p.m.

If a crawl through Ballard Avenue's vintage racks or a lamp rewired on 14th Avenue NW has you thinking about how a house holds up over time, the same approach applies to a sale or purchase: know what's worth keeping, know what it costs to fix, and know who to call. Henry Shim Group works across Ballard, from century-old houses to new townhomes. Book a Free Consultation and we'll go through what your place needs before you decide anything.