Zebra Club To Update Its Stripes

History has been known to repeat itself. And that's exactly what Raj Shah, chairman of International News, a clothing-design company in South King County, is betting on.

Shah, who in the 1980s co-founded the trend-setting, youth-oriented Zebra Club clothing store at 1901 First Ave. in downtown Seattle, is credited with helping revolutionize the way retailers market to teens and young adults.

The Zebra Club was one of the first shops to introduce in-store televisions, videos and music as part of the "shopping experience."

How times have changed. "Entertainment retailing" has become commonplace.

But the Zebra Club has failed to keep pace, prompting Shah to plan a major store remodel aimed at re-energizing customers and reinvigorating the business.

"We feel it's time to relaunch the store, keeping in mind we are going into a new millennium," Shah said. "The whole store will be gutted and redesigned."

Renovation work is to begin before the end of the summer.

While drugstore-chain expansions are being received coolly in many Puget Sound-area communities, Tacoma's Hilltop neighborhood is one notable exception.

The inner-city neighborhood is attempting to reverse two decades of economic decline. This week, it celebrated the opening of a 16,000-square-foot Rite Aid store at 1105 Martin Luther King Jr. Way.

Rite Aid, based in Pennsylvania, operates more than 3,900 stores in 30 states and the District of Columbia. The chain has 154 stores in Washington, including 60 in the Seattle-Tacoma area.

Rite Aid said it will spend $380 million over the next two years opening stores in 80 urban areas around the country.

Fore! Just in time for good weather, Nevada Bob's, a Bellevue-based retailer that operates several golfing stores, has opened a shop in downtown Seattle.

At 1801 Fifth Ave. in the Times Square building, the store opened about two weeks ago in ground-floor space previously occupied by Washington Mutual.

Take heart, "Star Trek" and "Star Wars" fans.

Downtown sources say a group of investors is quietly hunting for space near Sixth Avenue and Pine Street for a new themed restaurant.

Insiders say the project's working name is the Sci-Fi Cafe, which suggests a motif with lightsabers, Klingon birds of prey and warp drives.

Possible Sci-Fi Cafe sites include 1600 Sixth Ave., a space near Planet Hollywood previously occupied by ObaChine, the Wolfgang Puck restaurant that closed in June.

Other sites being considered include the Washington State Convention and Trade Center, now undergoing a $190 million expansion across Pike Street, or The Elliott, a 450-room hotel with retail space being built near the convention center under the direction of Seattle developer R.C. Hedreen.

Binding arbitration will start next week to determine whether Matthew's Red Apple, the independent grocery store in Seattle's Wedgwood neighborhood, is entitled to stay put for at least five more years.

Store owner Craig Mavis learned in May that because he had failed to renew his lease last fall, property owner Wes Williams of Western Property Management had struck a deal to lease the store to QFC.

Wedgwood residents have been campaigning to keep Red Apple.

Inside Retailing appears Thursdays in the Business section of The Seattle Times. You can contact Robert Marshall Wells by phone, 206-464-2412; fax, 206-382-8879; or e-mail, rwells@seattletimes.com