Business name: Metsker Maps
Products and/or services: Recreational maps, travel maps and guides, books, world-continental-regional maps, ZIP Code maps and marketing maps, antique map reprints, an inventory for kids, globes and much more. In Seattle since 1950, Metsker Maps joined with Kroll Map Company in 1999 and with that connection the company’s roots in this area extend back to the 1880s. Kroll owner John Loacker is third generation — his grandfather purchased the business in 1920, which started out as the Anderson Map Company and was purchased by Carl Kroll in 1911 (and sold nine years later).
Number of employees: Approximately 15
Unique/interesting features about the business: After decades of being told that technology would replace us, the business is still going strong. Kroll is the small technology business and Metsker is the visible retail street presence. “The store in the Pike Place Market is a Seattle icon — listed by Seattle Magazine as one of the “Top Ten Quintessential Shopping Experiences in Seattle,” along with Nordstrom and REI; not bad for a little map store,” the business notes. “Metsker is a store that has some intellectual depth that is not often seen in street level retail.”
Location and contact information:
Alderwood Mall — 3000 184th St. S.W. (moving in the next few months from temporary/outdoor space across from REI to a location near the food court, inside the mall).
Phone: 425-673-8165
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