Another piece of Seattle history is dimming its lights.
After more than a century in Pioneer Square, Seattle Lighting permanently closed its flagship location at 222 Second Avenue Extension South on February 15, 2026, ending a 109-year run in the same neighborhood.
After 109 years in business, Seattle Lighting permanently closed its Pioneer Square location at 222 Second Avenue Ext S in February pic.twitter.com/0mqXiWHE5m
— Ari Hoffman (@thehoffather) March 16, 2026
The property, which includes two historic buildings built in 1906 and 1946 along with a side lot, was purchased in December 2025 by Bread of Life Mission for $3.3 million.
And yes, as you can imagine, the plans for that property are already raising eyebrows.
Vanishing Seattle said that preliminary designs from SMR Architects, Bread of Life Mission is exploring a redevelopment that could include a homeless shelter, chapel, addiction recovery services, and mental health programs, steps away from Lumen Field, home of the Seattle Seahawks.
Seattle Lighting’s closure also comes as the company has been consolidating several locations, recently shutting down its Tukwila and Silverdale stores.
A Century of Seattle History
Seattle Lighting’s roots go deep in the city.
The company first opened in 1917, founded by Walter Funsinn and Joseph Schomer as the Seattle Lighting Fixture Company. Their Pioneer Square showroom became the company’s original home, and it stayed there for more than a century.
Over the decades, the business expanded throughout the Puget Sound region, but the Pioneer Square location remained its historic anchor.
Both the business and the property stayed in the ownership of the Funsinn and Schomer families for generations, making it one of the rare long-running family businesses that endured massive changes in Seattle.
Seattle Lighting built a reputation for innovation in the lighting industry, along with something increasingly rare today: staff who actually knew their products. Contractors, homeowners, and designers regularly relied on the store for specialty lighting fixtures and hard-to-find bulbs that big box stores didn’t carry.
What’s Next for Seattle Lighting
Despite the Pioneer Square closure, Seattle Lighting itself is not going away.
The company is opening a new showroom in Seattle’s SODO neighborhood, while continuing to operate showrooms in Bellevue, Tacoma, and Everett.
They also maintain a commercial sales and clearance center at 26 South Hanford Street in Seattle.
Still, for many longtime Seattle residents, the end of the Pioneer Square store marks the close of a chapter and more than 100 years of lighting up Seattle.
