Bill the Butcher is gonezo

Abandons Madison Valley location

Bill the Butcher, the Seattle-based "organic" meats purveyor, has decamped its Madison Valley store with a lot less fanfare than heralded its arrival there in April 2010. There was no press release from the Madison Valley Merchants Association on this one, so we were unaware that the Butcher was gone until we wandered by during the Bastille Bash on Saturday. This must be a fairly recent development, since the Company's website still lists  Madison Valley as one of its five stores (the others being in Laurelhurst, Woodinville, Redmond and Magnolia).

Bill the Butcher, which was founded in 2009, has had its share of recent troubles. A $4.5 million equity raising effort last summer was unsuccessful, and various media reports have tagged the Company as being "cash strapped." Last summer there was a very public falling out between company co-founder, William Von Schneidau, and his partner, J'Amy Owens, which resulted in the eponymous Bill leaving the Company. Or perhaps there was not a falling out, depending on which version of the story you believe. The resulting lawsuit, however, is a matter of public record.

In February, Bill the Butcher vacated its downtown Bellevue location after only 16 months at that site, and the Company's long-planned store in Edmonds has never opened. Though the tag-line in the window reads sustainable, that obviously didn't prove the case for the Madison Valley store, though whether it applies to the Company as a whole remains to be seen.