Claiming to be Seattle’s oldest continuously operating restaurant, the Merchant's Café, 109 Yesler Street, stands at the corner of Yesler and James Streets. Opening as the Merchant's Exchange Saloon in 1900, soon after Seattle’s 1889 Great Fire, its owners changed the name to Café during Prohibition. Over the years it has served as a restaurant, brothel, tavern and jazz club. It also sold cigars, cigarettes, pipes, and penny candy from a well-stocked counter that opened onto the street.

The Merchants Café is located in Seattle’s Pioneer Square historic and preservation district, established in 1970. The building was renovated in 2002, with the upstairs bedrooms becoming new apartments. The Café closed at the end of 2024 with plans to reopen in spring 2025.

This image shows the Merchant’s Café and the neighboring Trinity night club in 2007. A Budweiser banner notes the Café’s sponsorship of the Seattle Mariners baseball team and lighted beer signs can be seen in the windows. The cigar counter was once located below the Lovera ad.

Caption information source: “Nickels’ style in his first year surprises some supporters”, by Phuong Cat Le and Kathy Mulady, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 21, 2002, pages A1, A5.
Caption information source: “Three bars in Pioneer Square claim ‘oldest in Seattle.’ Now, one is closed indefinitely”, by Alex Halvorson, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, October 31, 2019.
Caption information source: “Pioneer Square’s Merchant’s Café and Saloon closing for a thorough scrub”, by Tan Vinh, The Seattle Times, December 30, 2024, page A9.