Seattle's KEXP eyes a second physical home - in San Francisco's historic Haight-Ashbury. Seattle independent radio station KEXP is exploring the possibility of building out a second physical home - far from its beloved base at Seattle Center - in San Francisco. Three years after expanding its broadcast footprint to the Bay Area with the acquisition of 92.7 KREV FM, the non-profit music institution has set its sights on the city's historic Haight-Ashbury neighborhood for a potential site. Under a proposed partnership announced Thursday by KEXP and city preservation group SF Heritage, the station would team up with local nonprofit Blue Bear School of Music to convert the historic Doolan-Larson House and Storefronts at the corner of Haight and Ashbury streets into a multifaceted music and cultural center. The early-stage plan for the landmark property envisions radio broadcast facilities, a roof venue for live performances and community events, space for group and individual music lessons, and a public "third space" intended for year-round daily gathering. The proposed hub adds another twist to the long-standing cross-pollination between the two tech capitals. While Silicon Valley giants have routinely set up major engineering outposts in Seattle, and founders and workers migrate between the regions, KEXP's expansion represents a rare cultural export heading in the opposite direction. San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie cheered the proposal as a win for both the neighborhood and the city's broader economic recovery. "Art and music have been part of what makes San Francisco special for generations," Lurie said in a statement. "Innovative partnerships like this one help us reimagine what's possible and find new ways to activate our neighborhoods. Our artists and cultural spaces make our city stronger, and this new home for music and culture at Haight and Ashbury will inspire generations to come." Located at the epicenter of the 1960s counterculture movement, the Colonial Revival-style Doolan-Larson House was originally constructed in 1903 and raised after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake to add ground-floor storefronts. The property - designated San Francisco Landmark No. 253 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places - housed groundbreaking hippie-era boutiques during the Summer of Love. It was gifted to SF Heritage in 2017 by its long-time owner, the late Norman Larson, specifically to ensure the landmark would be preserved and activated for public and cultural use. Founded in 1972 as KCMU - a small, student-run station at the University of Washington - KEXP has spent over five decades building a global reputation for human-curated music discovery, famously becoming one of the first stations to champion the "Seattle sound" in the late 1980s. The station's Bay Area presence officially materialized in late 2023 when KEXP placed the winning $3.75 million bid at a bankruptcy auction to acquire commercial frequency 92.7 KREV FM (now KEXC). Funded by a portion of a $10 million bequest left by a anonymous long-time donor, the station began retransmitting its broadcast signal to Northern California in March 2024 as part of a strategy to ground its growing digital and streaming audience in key cultural markets. In Seattle, KEXP's physical hub at Seattle Center - itself a civic landmark - features a public Gathering Space that combines a coffee shop, record store, and live performance venue alongside its open-view DJ booth. Translating a high-touch, human-centered physical experience into new markets is a core priority for the station: KEXP recently hired its first chief product and technology officer, former SiriusXM and Nordstrom executive Jyoti Shukla, to build digital products and physical spaces that intentionally prioritize human music curation over AI algorithms. In a post on LinkedIn, KEXP CEO Ethan Raup said the response to the station's arrival in the Bay Area "has been nothing short of remarkable" and that it gave KEXP "the confidence to start planning for our next big step." In its post on Thursday, KEXP stressed the plans are "not a done deal yet." Over the coming months, SF Heritage, KEXP, and Blue Bear School of Music will focus on gathering community feedback, finalizing an adaptive reuse plan, and determining construction feasibility and project financing. KEXP and Blue Bear representatives will make their first public outreach push at the Haight Ashbury Street Fair on Sunday to share more about the proposed project.

Nordstrom quits home in its New York location. Will its other stores follow? When the famed upscale department store finally arrived in Manhattan in 2019 following years of anticipation and rumors, Nordstrom was the talk of the town. Though the location on the corner of 57th Street and Broadway was a bit of an odd choice - it's a brisk walk away from competitors on Fifth Avenue - the seven-story store was pretty impressive, especially compared to the other city newcomer that arrived around the same time: the ill-fated and ultimately not-so-dearly departed Neiman Marcus location in Hudson Yards. Perhaps the highest-profile position inside Nordstrom's corner location was the retailer's largest-ever home furnishings and gift department. Spread out on two floors, the home department made a bold statement that the department store - which had previously considered the category an afterthought, often giving it less-than-primary space - was serious about home. The department originally featured an expansive selection of soft home, bedding and bath - often from DTC brands - as well as tabletop, kitchenware, the occasional small appliance, and a variety of giftables, including an area featuring merchandise from the Museum of Modern Art. It wasn't enough to fully furnish a Manhattan apartment (upholstery and case goods were notably absent), but it was an impressively deep selection. Over time, the offerings gradually seemed to go more in the direction of gift than home, but the floor space devoted to the broader category remained essentially the same. That is, up until recently: What was once the home space now hosts rotating pop-ups. This summer, it was a U.S. Open activation showcasing apparel from Polo Ralph Lauren, the tennis tournament's official licensee. As for home and gift? What's left of it occupies the back corner of the store's fifth floor, and it's mostly candles, New York souvenirs and tchotchkes. As such, the array represents what shoppers will find in most Nordstrom branches around the country - although even those typically stock some towels and the occasional decorative pillow or throw. So, has Nordstrom thrown in the towel (pun intended) on pursuing a broader strategy in the home space? The answer is yes and no. By and large, its stores have veered away from prioritizing home product for in-person shoppers. Online, it's a different story. Nordstrom.com has an extensive assortment of home furnishings, both soft and hard. Home textiles brands include Ralph Lauren, Ugg and DTC names such as Parachute and Boll & Branch. There are small kitchen appliances, tabletop and cookware from the likes of KitchenAid, Villeroy & Boch, and Gibson. Nordstrom also sells some select consumer electronics, pet products, luggage - and more candles than you could possibly use in a lifetime of romantic evenings. Again, the only category really missing is furniture. Nordstrom, it must be pointed out, is certainly not alone in forsaking home in its stores. Upscale competitors like Saks and Neiman Marcus have long opted out of the category, and even more mid-tier department stores like Dillard's and Belk often drop it from smaller locations. The only upscale department store that is truly a player in home is Bloomingdale's, which has full assortments of home textiles, housewares, tabletop and furniture in most of its stores, as well as online. What's behind the sad state of affairs for home in department stores? Executives past and present will tell you it takes up too much retail real estate, it doesn't turn the way apparel and fashion do, and the markdowns are a killer. Yet Bloomingdale's makes it work, and ironically some of the most successful retail executives in recent history - from Allen Questrom of Barneys to Mike Steinberg and Tony Spring of Macy's - began their careers in home. Back at Nordstrom, home is relegated to the gift shop upstairs, and in-store signage calls its former area The Corner. No mention of home. Warren Shoulberg is the former editor in chief for several leading B2B publications. He has been a guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; received honors from the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Fashion Institute of Technology; and been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other media as a leading industry expert. His Retail Watch columns offer deep industry insights on major markets and product categories. Want to stay informed? Sign up for our newsletter, which recaps the week's stories, and get in-depth industry news and analysis each quarter by subscribing to our print magazine. Join BOH Insider for discounts, workshops and access to special events such as the Future of Home conference.