A family with a deep connection to the Central District — and the United States Postal Service — has opened a new business at MLK and Union that is hoped to give the community a place to pack, ship, and get their mail through the ongoing changes in the neighborhood.

“It’s bigger than us. It’s about everyone you see here,” D’Vonne Pickett told CHS last week at a ribbon cutting ceremony to celebrate the grand opening of The Postman, a mailing services and mailbox rental business in The Valley development on MLK Jr. Way.

The husband and wife team of D’Vonne and Keanna Pickett are opening the new shop as as the area is preparing for redevelopment at the nearby Midtown Center that will include displacement of the post office. While officials sort out what is next for the federal mail facility, The Postman is ready to give the neighborhood the services it needs without having to leave the area.

For D’Vonne Pickett, the business is also part of a strong connection to this grandfather Jacques Chappell who served as a mail carrier for the USPS in Seattle for nearly 40 years. “When I think of him, he was a provider,” Pickett said of Chappell who passed away early this year at the age of 98. “I know he’s smiling and he’s proud.”

The Postman is located at 1143 Martin Luther King Jr Way. You can learn more at thepostmanseattle.com.

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