Pike Place Fish Market More About Our Beginnings.

John Yokoyama purchased Pike Place Fish in 1965. At that time, John was one of several employees of the quiet, unassuming little fish stand. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to sell the business, John’s employer offered him the opportunity to purchase Pike Place Fish. As a young man of 25, John was at first hesitant to buy the business. The monthly payments on his new 1965 Buick Riviera, however, were taking much of his $150.00 weekly pay. He decided he could do better on an owner’s salary. John purchased Pike Place Fish to help make his car payments - amazing how things turned out!

The first step for us at Pike Place Fish was to decide who we wanted to be. In the words of John Yokoyama:“In one of our early Pike Place Fish meetings with Jim (our coach from bizFutures), we began an inquiry into "Who do we want to be? We wanted to create a new future for ourselves. One of the young kids working for me said, “Hey! Let's be World Famous!” At first I thought, “World Famous…what a stupid thing to say!” But the more we talked about it, the more we all got excited about being World Famous. So we committed to it. We added “World Famous” to our logo and had it printed on our shipping boxes. Continued on Next Page >>