Seattle's Best Karaoke to close after 30 years

For the past three weekends, Katie Reider wrangled her friends and headed to Seattle's Best Karaoke in Denny Triangle to say goodbye.

Reider received an email from management in March saying the all-ages, no-frills karaoke spot on Minor Avenue would shut its doors for good at the end of April. The business' month-to-month lease was terminated last month by its landlord.

In a room with glowing disco lights, Reider's group put their mics down, stood in a semicircle and sang their hearts out to "Piano Man" by Billy Joel, their favorite song to play at the end of a night of karaoke.

Indeed, it was a pretty good crowd for a Saturday.

"Just going there, it feels like a tradition," said Reider, who first visited Seattle's Best Karaoke in 2021. "And I've always left feeling happy and like I had a great time with my friends."

It's the last call for singers at Seattle's Best Karaoke, which will permanently close its private rooms on April 26, shuttering after 30 years "due to a landlord decision." Founder Shinji Unno received notice last month from the building's owner, Balfour Place Partners LLC, indicating the termination of his month-to-month lease. The business was ordered to vacate by April 30.

Balfour Place Partners could not be reached for comment.

Unno told The Seattle Times that he does not have plans to move SBK to a new space, focusing instead on expanding his karaoke rental and delivery service, which started in 2001. Unno hopes to place his machines at other businesses "with excess rooms" and compile a list of those locations on sbkaraoke.com. The physical karaoke HQ on Minor Avenue accounts for around 75% of Seattle's Best Karaoke's gross income, Unno said this week.

Unno, who noted that it cost just $100,000 to build SBK's original Chinatown location in 1994, said building out a new, small, private karaoke space is unfeasible in downtown Seattle in 2026. The Denny Triangle SBK location has been Unno's only brick-and-mortar location, which he runs with his wife, since the first location closed in the early 2000s.

Unno said many longtime patrons have reached out and booked rooms for the last time after hearing about SBK's closure. Unno said the space's six private rooms have been consistently filled up on weekends, when the space is open until 2 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

"When we were busy Friday and Saturday, at one time, we might have 70 to 80 people singing together across all the rooms," Unno said.

Unno opened SBK on Minor Avenue in 1996, at a time when Seattle lacked private karaoke rooms where people could sing among friends (and away from the bar). Unno said he's seen customers of all ages, with his youngest customer at 4 months old and the oldest at over 90. Unlike karaoke bars around the city, SBK has no age limit because it does not serve alcoholic drinks. Guests who want to drink alcohol can bring their own beverages with a banquet permit.

Unno said he'll miss interacting with SBK regulars the most. Last Friday, a group of five singers gave him a card with messages.

"I haven't really hugged a customer until that day," said Unno, who first came to Seattle from Japan in the 1980s as a student. "What they got was … moving my heart. I didn't know how much it means to be at SBK for them because I was just providing the place."

An SBK regular since 2011, Micah Phillips took his sons Kai, 4, and Lincoln, 6, to their first karaoke night last Saturday. From 6 to 7:30 p.m., they sang their favorites: "Pour Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard, "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls and "Y.M.C.A." by the Village People.

Phillips said he's sad to see the physical SBK location go, but he knows "it's not goodbye, just see you later." In the meantime, he said he'll continue supporting the business by renting out Unno's karaoke machines. He's done so before - at his own wedding and to practice for a grad school talent show.

Phillips will look back fondly on nights spent at Seattle's Best Karaoke, walking to the convenience store next door to grab drinks or getting pizza across the street. He'll remember hearing muffled, boisterous singing before walking through SBK's glass door. And Phillips will miss saying hey to Unno, smiling from the front desk, before returning to the karaoke room he reserved that night.

"I'll never forget it," Phillips said. "It's vibrant, it's welcoming and it's fun."

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