A large arts-and-crafts store that has been a downtown Tacoma staple for nearly a decade has filed for bankruptcy, The News Tribune confirmed this week.
Artist & Craftsman Supply (616 St. Helens Ave., Suite 102), which has 18 other stores in the United States, including one in Seattle, voluntarily filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Dec. 21 due to “ongoing financial pressures in 2025 amid a challenging retail environment, including higher real estate leasing costs and softness in consumer spending,” according to an email sent to customers on Friday.
The two-story, 5,000-square-foot-plus Tacoma retail space sells a wide variety of gifts, frames and craft supplies, from paint to stationary, pastels, watercolors, beads and more. Elaborate murals decorate the walls and ceiling, local artists’ work is always for sale, and the windows are usually adorned with themed designs. The 1928 Wagner Motors building is on Tacoma’s register of historic places and was designed by architect Silas Nelsen, with decorative twisted-cord columns and scrolled dentil molding, as reported by Craig Sailor in 2016.
CEO and board chair Bob Landry told The News Tribune in an email Tuesday that the company is still “very early on” in the bankruptcy process and recommended the public follow @ArtistCraftsman_Tacoma on Instagram and @ArtistCraftsmanSupply.Tacoma on Facebook for more updates on the Tacoma location…