London-based global cycling sportswear brand Rapha is closing its Seattle “clubhouse,” a mixed retail and cafe concept it introduced nearly ten years ago on this E Pine block of Capitol Hill after its redevelopment
The company said the Seattle shutdown will be joined by clubhouse closures in Boulder, Chicago, Miami, and Manchester, United Kingdom “before the end of March 2026.”
The closures come as Rapha is suffering global revenue loss of a reported $23 million annually. It will continue to operate 20 or so clubhouses in cities including New York, Los Angeles, and Portland as well as opening new sites including Shanghai.
The company says the closures will begin as early as this month.
In addition to a hole in Capitol Hill’s retail mix, the Rapha Clubhouse shuttering will remove an E Pine base for local cycling clubs and riders.
CHS reported here in March 2017 as Rapha Seattle debuted with a group ride to Mercer Island and back.
(Image: Rapha)
Rapha’s debut on E Pine at Melrose marked the completion of the transition from the block’s past where Bauhaus was born in 1993. Retailers including Le Frock, Edie’s, Scout Apparel, Vutique, Wall of Sound and Spine & Crown Books all eventually made way for the construction. Some moved. Some shuttered. The eight-story, preservation incentive-boosted Excelsior Apartments — named to honor the Excelsior Motorcycle and Bicycle Company — rose on the corner and made spaces for a new generation of businesses. Unlike the past mix, the new tenants tend toward global aspirations and business models as much at home in University Village as they are on E Pine.
Rapha’s 2026 closure will also come amid an ongoing ripple of shutdowns on Capitol Hill of high profile, signature spaces by big companies as the neighborhood’s collection of empty giant commercial spaces grew in 2025. In September, coffee giant Starbucks shuttered its $20+ million Capitol Hill Roastery. June brought the abrupt end of the one-of-a-kind, mixed-use Redhook microbrewery below the Pike Motorworks apartments. Summer included the Broadway Whole Foods shutdown.
Closures of smaller Hill spaces have been quickly followed by news of new projects but these big new gaps mostly remain unfilled.
Where Rapha Clubhouse’s 301 E Pine space fits into these changes remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, local independent cycle-friendly venues are still rolling. Metier opened its version of a clubhouse complete with a cafe, bike gym, and training center in November 2015 on E Union and is still riding today. On E Jefferson, the team at the Peloton Cafe Bike Shop expanded on E Jefferson in 2022. And in the heart of Pike/Pine inside Chophouse Row, Good Weather is still on a good ride from its early days as a second floor repair shop. Today the bike shop includes its popular Tailwind Cafe hangout.
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