General Porpoise Shutters Palisades Village Store

By SARAH SHMERLING | Editor-in-Chief

On Sunday, March 24, General Porpoise served its last sweet treat to Palisades Village customers—becoming the fourth store in the development to close its doors in March.

The Seattle-based doughnut and coffee shop expanded its Pacific Northwest brand south to Los Angeles with its Pacific Palisades location. General Porpoise is one of several eateries run by Sea Creatures—owned and operated by James Beard Award-winning chef Renee Erickson, Jeremy Price and Chad Dale. 

“There really isn’t a lot to say,” Price explained of the closure to the Palisadian-Post on Monday, March 25. “We love Los Angeles and appreciate the warm welcome we’ve received. We’ve enjoyed getting to know the community and love all of our regular customers—two-legged and four-legged. This said our operation has not been financially sustainable.”

Sea Creatures operates nautical-themed locations throughout Seattle, including The Walrus and The Carpenter, The Whale Wins and Barnacle Bar.

“We operate 22 bars, restaurants and café’s, and have a good sense for when things are working and when they are not,” Price explained. 

Price explained that the team is not giving up—they look forward to returning to Los Angeles in the future.

“In the mean time, General Porpoise fans will be able to visit us at any of our thriving Seattle locations: Capitol Hill, Pioneer Square, Laurelhurst and The Spheres,” Price said.

According to Price, the closure had been in the works for about a month.

“We had communicated our challenges to our landlord at Palisades Village,” Price explained. “They were gracious enough to let us out of our lease early.”

The closure occurred the same day as Rachel Zoe’s Palisades Village residency came to an end, and less than two weeks after Vintage Grocers’ sudden shuttering.

Lingerie and swimwear shop Fleur du Mal’s residency came to an end earlier this month. Buck Mason is slated to open in the space sometime this spring.

And though Amazon has closed down dozens of its pop-up stores—stand-alone kiosks that showcase the company’s devices, including tablets and speakers—in the U.S., a spokesperson denied any rumors of Amazon Books closing its Palisades Village location.

“Across our Amazon network, we regularly evaluate our businesses to ensure we’re making thoughtful decisions around how we can best serve our customers,” the spokesperson explained. “After much review, we came to the decision to discontinue our pop-up kiosk program, and are instead expanding Amazon Books and Amazon 4-star, where we provide a more comprehensive customer experience and broader selection. We look forward to opening additional locations of both stores this year.

“We are excited to introduce even more customers to these in store shopping experiences where they can discover highly rated books, toys, games, home and kitchen goods, electronics, Amazon devices and more.”