MOUNTLAKE TERRACE — The year is 1955, Mountlake Terrace is a fledgling city, and a brand new business opens to capture the mouth-share of the suburb. That business is Double DD Meats and it is founded on the precepts of offering value and full service.
Since Kimberly Nygard took over the ownership of her father’s business, the only thing that has changed in the butcher shop is its size. Double DD has expanded to 26,000 square feet, offering almost 3,000 hot sauces, 800 barbecue sauces and 400 dry rubs plus a plethora of meat-centric novelties and knick knacks that beg to be taken for gift giving to the grill master.
“This is a meat market even vegetarians can have fun in,” said Nygard.
Make no bones about it, Double DD is decidedly a meat store. That area of the store brings in 75 percent of the operation’s revenue. This Thanksgiving alone, Double DD Meats will supply more than 500 turkeys to customers. Most of the meats in the service case are locally grown.
What differentiates the store from other meat outlets is the old-time butcher shop feel and the personal service customers can’t get just anywhere. Whether it is finding a specific cut of meat or advice on cooking, the staff is ready to impart wisdom and advice. Any cut can be sent home marinated or seasoned at the customer’s request.
In addition to the service, what keeps customers coming back is value, said Nygard. Double DD offers freezer-ready packages featuring a variety of meats with an assortment of cuts. Packages, priced at $99, offer strictly beef steaks, perfect grilling items or a combination of both.
Offering customers the prices Double DD does comes due to the longevity of the business.
“Our equipment is all paid for,” said Nygard. Refrigerated cases can start at $100,000 and smokehouses cost $30,000 and up, she said.
Nygard’s father, Lester Palaniuk, started working at the butcher shop, opened by Dan Murray and John Dallas, as a 17-year-old clean-up kid. “Dan was like a father to my dad,” said Nygard. “When he retired, Dad bought the store. That was more than 30 years ago.”
Nygard followed in her father’s footsteps, coming to work at Double DD when she was a junior in high school. “It was easy to get the job,” she said. Her four brothers also started their work careers at the store, but they eventually found other paths, she said.
It’s still a family affair at Double DD. Nygard’s son Justin Nygard, brother Kelsey Palaniuk, niece Kayla Palaniuk and nephew Derek Palaniuk, also work in the store.
More than just an outlet for beef, poultry, pork and lamb, Double DD makes their own signature items including 70 different flavors of sausages and smoked items such as ham hocks, chicken and turkey, bacon, jerky and pepperoni. Each are prepared by hand at Double DD.
Despite the success of Double DD, the future is iffy. As the city of Mountlake Terrace has rezoned the area containing the building the business has leased for 55 years, the space has become more attractive for development.
“We have been informed that within 10 years, it will be torn down,” said Nygard. “Now may be the time to own our own space. We really want to stay in Mountlake Terrace.”
“We have the best customers in the world,” said Nygard. “There are fun, friendly people in Mountlake Terrace.” She recalls the number of times customers have brought the staff flowers or cookies.
While Double DD has offered customers an assortment of spices for years, the offerings have been significantly expanded since an arson fire in 1990 forced Nygard to rebuild.
“It took one year and eight months to rebuild and we doubled in size,” she said. “We kept the spices, went to food shows and found more and more. The shelves just got taller and taller to fit it all in.”
Customers can shop for everything a home cook needs to be successful in the kitchen: candies and crackers, jams, sauces, jellies, chili and soup mixes, marinades, olives, seasonings and spices, mustards, rubs, seasoned salts and five rows of hot sauces. The best, Nygard says, are the store’s own labeled items. “We have to love it, or it’s not under our own label.”
The kitschy items, ranging from tea towels and T-shirts to hats and aprons, are perfect gifts for foodies and are aimed to leave a smile on anyone’s face.
“We have a lot of fun shopping for the store,” she said. “The test is, if it makes us laugh, we have to have it.”
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