Bill the Butcher Opening Delayed Due to Construction in Seattle

Bill the Butcher, a Seattle-based meat shop that had , now plans to greet its first customers in late May or early June.

“We had to pull our construction team off Edmonds and have them focus on our commissary, which we got a lease for earlier than expected,” said Alan Brown, Bill the Butcher’s marketing director.

The commissary, located in Seattle’s Sodo district, is the business’ central distribution and receiving center and took priority. Construction work at the commissary should be done in a week or two, Brown said, enabling the company to re-focus on the Edmonds location.

"We are really anxious to open in Edmonds," Brown said.

The Edmonds location, at Fourth Avenue South and Main Street, is Bill the Butcher’s first shop in Snohomish County. There are six locations in King County: Woodinville, Redmond and Bellevue, as well as three in the Seattle communities of Laurelhurst, Magnolia and Madison Valley. The company also plans three other locations that will be announced shortly.

Bill the Butcher, which provides organic and natural, grass-fed meats, was founded in 2009 by J’Amy Owens and William von Schnedau. The first location, in Woodinville, opened in August 2009.

“Edmonds has always been on our very short list of places we want to open shops in,” said Brown. “The community is a perfect fit for our brand because it already has the education and passion about our cause and movement.”

Brown said Bill the Butcher has already begun the hiring process for Edmonds. Current employees will be brought in from existing shops to start training. Those interested in employment in Edmonds should email bill@billthebutcher.com.

“Bill the Butcher is the return of the neighborhood butcher,” said Brown. “We offer premium meats that are locally sourced and raised using sustainable farming practices. We have organic and natural meats, local poultry and one really fresh butcher.”

Meanwhile, Bill the Butcher, which trades on the over-the-counter bulletin board as BILB, announced today in a press release that second-quarter sales jumped 266 percent to $559,000 from the same period last year.

But sales for the quarter declined 5.9 percent compared to the prior quarter as a result of public reporting costs and expenses associated with the company's financing activities. That diverted investment in meat inventories, causing less product to be available for sale in the stores.

As a result, the company lost $699,000, or 3 cents a share, for the period that ended Feb. 28.

“We are pleased with our performance in what is only our sixth quarter of operations,” said Owens in a statement. “In this short amount of time, we have achieved a tremendous amount in refining a retail concept that we already know to be powerful. Bill the Butcher will be to meat what Starbucks is to coffee.”