When SoDo antique mall Pacific Galleries announced it would close at the end of August, Seattle mourned the loss of yet another longtime local favorite.

Tom Gorz mourned, too. Then he saved it.

October 1, just over a month since Pacific Galleries shut its doors, the mall will reopen as Lander Street Vintage. “This is coming home to me,” Gorz says, “and I truly mean that.”

Gorz had a showroom at Pacific Galleries for a decade before launching Epic Antique about a mile south with fellow seller Matthew Culbert in 2018. At Lander Street, he brought many beloved Pacific Galleries vendors back, as well as additional spaces for some Epic Antique favorites like Sandy Marshall’s Treasure Queen, Susan Kelley’s Vintage in Seattle, and Shelly Bennett’s Nothing’s New Vintage. 

Bennett says “one of the top vendors on the West Coast” will be there too: the Tom Gorz Collection, that is.

SoDo’s vintage champion will display his collection of pristine midcentury designer furniture in several showrooms, with an emphasis on the show part. “You're walking into more of an immersive experience” of vintage displays, Gorz says, rather than the office, lockers, and signage that greeted guests at Pacific Galleries. Most changes, including a Lander Street sign, a more filled-out slate of vendors, and collective sales and events a la Epic Antique are to come.

After all, it was a quick turnaround. Gorz offered all the vendors at Pacific Galleries an opportunity to stay, and getting back in business for their sake was a top priority. Epic Antique—"my baby," he says—also benefits from the draw of another similar business nearby, a sort of symbiosis that sends out-of-town antiquers up and down Airport Way.

At a time when prospects for other retailers seem a bit uncertain, vintage is going through something of a renaissance, what with a proliferation of Instagram sellers, the SoDo revival, and the recent opening of Macklemore project Goose Magee’s Vintage Mall on Capitol Hill. Gorz is there, too. 

Down in SoDo, he’s got a “nice long lease,” refreshingly generous landlords, and a whole lot of momentum. If Gorz has anything to do with it, Lander Street Vintage—the mall formerly known as Pacific Galleries—is here to stay.