Variety chain Chubby & Tubby slipping into history?
The legendary three-store general-merchandise chain, which peddles everything from wrench sets to kitschy toys to cheap Christmas trees, began liquidation sales yesterday. Employees told customers that all sales are final, saying the company is trying to sell its stores and might close them if it can't find a buyer.
Mike DiCecco, Chubby & Tubby's general manager, did not return phone calls yesterday. But the chain's flagship store on Rainier Avenue South enticed customers with signs reading "Entire store on sale" and "Selling out to the bare walls," and employees told customers the liquidation process could last seven to 10 weeks.
Founded in 1947 as a military-surplus hut in the lot of a Rainier Valley gas station, Chubby & Tubby grew into a Seattle institution by offering a funky mix of goods — often much cheaper than at larger chain stores — at its cluttered stores on Rainier Avenue, Aurora Avenue North near Green Lake and in White Center. Last year, the White Center store moved to a strip mall in Renton.
"They are, to me, one of the last true variety stores," said Feliks Banel, deputy director of Seattle's Museum of History and Industry. "You can roam the aisles and come across merchandise that has probably been in stock since before you were born."
Customers at the Rainier and Aurora stores yesterday said they were surprised and disappointed to hear that Chubby & Tubby may not be around much longer. Rainier shopper Lonnie Reid, a retired firefighter, called the store "an all-around shop — a place where I can get shoes, fishing gear, garden supplies and Christmas trees."
Chubby & Tubby was founded 55 years ago by Seattle friends Woodrow "Woody" Auge and Irving "Irv" Frese, who began selling military-surplus goods shortly after returning from World War II service. Frese's wife nicknamed Frese "Chubby" and Auge "Tubby," and the names stuck.
Auge died in 1989; Frese in 1997. The chain is owned by Frese family members in California, who could not be reached yesterday.
Although managers wouldn't talk about why the chain is for sale, the economy has not been kind to mom-and-pop retailers of late, particularly in the Puget Sound region.
Independent general-merchandise stores have been losing ground for years to large competitors such as Wal-Mart, Target and Costco, whose big-box stores and clout with vendors allow them to lure shoppers with mammoth inventories and lower prices.
Customers said yesterday they've kept coming back to Chubby & Tubby stores precisely because they are an antidote to big-box uniformity.
"I like it because it's sort of a mom-and-pop store, not one of the big ones," Andy Schmidt of Seattle said yesterday as he scoped out Christmas trees, some of which were selling for under $6.
Chubby & Tubby's fabled Christmas-tree tradition traces back to the late 1940s, when the owners collected trees cut for power company right-of-ways and sold them for 97 cents. DiCecco said in 1997 that Frese and Auge sold the trees at a deep discount because they wanted everybody to be able to have a Christmas tree.
"Somebody else is going to have to import truckloads of cheap trees," Doug Durasoff of Edmonds said yesterday at the Aurora store, buying a tree as he has for the past 15 years.
The store boasts celebrities among its loyal customers. Nirvana grunge rocker Kurt Cobain was said to have bought flannel shirts there, and rock musician Dave Matthews recently was spotted at the Aurora store buying flower bulbs.
For longtime area residents, Chubby & Tubby is a piece of Seattle nostalgia. John Keister, a lifelong Seattleite and host of the former KING-TV comedy show "Almost Live," said the Rainier Valley store was the shopping mecca for him and his Franklin High School classmates in the early 1970s.
"It was where everybody got their Chuck Taylors, their (Converse) All-Stars, their Levis," Keister said. "It's a place where they just had what you needed."
Keister said he was in the Aurora Chubby & Tubby in 1989 when he found out that the Berlin Wall was coming down.
Banel said Chubby & Tubby is one of several throwback Seattle retail icons that have survived into the 21st century, a fraternity that includes Bartell Drugs, Dick's Drive-In and the Elephant Car Wash.
"It's part of that shared experience that makes us a community," Banel said. "Even if you don't patronize it or you're not a regular, you drive past it in your car and you have memories ... these are some of the last holdouts of the old Seattle."
Seattle Times staff columnist Jean Godden contributed to this report.
Jake Batsell: 206-464-2718 or jbatsell@seattletimes.com.
Sarah Anne Wright: 206-464-2752 or swright@seattletimes.com.
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