World Spice

Check out the rack(s) on this one!If you find yourself exiting the maze that is Pike Place Market, you'll find this awesome spice merchant one block below, on Western Avenue. Racks on racks of spices, salts, teas and all the associated accoutrement to brew, blend, or season your favorite beverages and dishes.On our first visit, we were able to find some Israeli Za'atar, a spice that is rather hard to come by, in some places. On return visits, we've purchased such exotic supplies such as Korean bulgogi spice, "rooster" (a.k.a. sriracha) salt, garlic habanero salt, black truffle salt, and a half dozen other fun seasonings. On our last outing, we were offered a free sample from a couple choice flavors, to accompany our purchase.Most of the various spice and herb blends run around ~$9-$12 for a standard size jar. Some of the various spice powders run a few bucks per oz. It's easy to get carried away and spend $50 bucks or more (we do pretty much every time), but the quality and variety keeps us coming back for more. Heck, on our last visit, we were actually waiting for our table at a nearby restaurant, bought our spices, went to lunch, and ended up breaking out a couple of the salts to sprinkle on our fries *in the restaurant*. How convenient is that?If you need a little kick to spice up your culinary concoctions, World Spice Merchant is a must-stop, anytime you find yourself near Pike Place. You're almost guaranteed to find something you like, at a price that won't leave you feeling salty about it.

I've been shopping at World Spice for years and years and you can't beat the quality of the spices you get here. But what I will say right now is that their policy that started during COVID of only having prepacked and order ahead options is a little frustrating. There's no mask policy in the shop anymore but this other policy is still being used? One of the strengths of World Spice used to be that you could just stop in and get what you need but now it's much more preset even though they obviously still have their bulk containers. I would still definitely recommend, but I am looking forward to them going back to the old way of filling orders.

Absolutely love this place. I didn't ever give much thought to buying my spices fresh from a local vendor, even though I cook a lot, until someone turned me onto their chipotle chili flake. Wow. It's absolutely incredible. I already used red pepper flakes in my cooking to make a nice, spicy base to just about everything, and these bring that, plus the best smoky flavor. I use them to finish just about every meal I eat, no exaggeration.Getting spices there is super easy, especially if you're downtown for any reason. They have orders ready to pick up usually next day, and service is fast. The spices smell and look so much more vibrant than whatever you're used to, I assure you. I wish the bulk goods came in something other than plastic, but I understand why. At lest it can be Ridwell'd at home.Their blends are fun too. They have spice mixed inspired by Worcestershire, homemade togarashi blends and more fun stuff. I'd recommend for your first buy to get a mixture of things both familiar and unfamiliar to you, to understand how they shine.

I used to really enjoy shopping at this store. You could walk through smelling spices, reading to find all kinds of new interesting blends to "spice up" (no pun intended) your cooking routine. Unfortunately it's gone from an "experience" and they have changed things in store purchasing to everything is pre packaged which is frustrating given it creates so much more waste and cost. This made far more sense at the height of covid but there seems to be no intention at the moment of changing back.The only way around this is to order online removing the original experience when going to the market, and taking at least 24 hrs to get your spices. So if you decided to make something day of, have company that comes to town or run out of a spice there is no way around it- except to purchase their pre packaged jars.What I once thought was a temporary adjustment through the pandemic seems to be permanent fixture. I guess I should feel fortunately I spend hundreds less a year as I'm not there purchasing cookbooks, etc and purchase spices more and more elsewhere.

If I could make it 0 stars I would. I had over $100 of spices that I had found and wanted to buy, but the customer service was terrible, so I put it all back and left. There were at least 3 associates in various positions around the store. I was in the shop for 20 minutes and all of them looked me in the face and no one said hi, asked if I needed help or even returned my smile. One associate was chatting with a woman, telling her to go ahead and sip her tea and look around. Said lady was leaning in the walkway leading to a large and very steep staircase. I said excuse me and pardon me 3 times and she didn't even budge an inch. Get this I AM 7 months pregnant- NOTICEABLY PREGNANT! As the only Black person or customer of color in the store it really makes you wonder. The ONLY time an associate said anything to me was to ask if I was ready to check out. By this point I had- had enough and had already put the 9 jars of spices away. The only happy people in this equation were oblivious leaning lady and my husband since they seemed to save him some money. Thanks for a great last night Seattle. Featured photo: My husband driving away and me with no spices because the customer service and shop experience was abysmal.

My friend and I came in on a Sunday while we were walking around Pike place because it was right next to the parking garage. I was blown away by the variety inside, there were standard spices, and their own unique mixes. I got 4 spice mixes, a pho starter and some chamomile tea. It was a little bit pricy, but I think totally worth it. I spoke the cashier as I was checking out and she gave me all sorts of helpful advice about each blend that I bought and how to use them. She was very friendly and kind! I would definitely come back if we're ever in the area again.

Fantastic spice merchant located on Western Ave in the Pike Place Market area. The store is large, clean, and has a variety of options. The staff are friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. All spices are fresh and the variety covers anything you might need. I also found a couple of new spices to try! They can grind spices as well when purchased. The pricing is fair and spices comes in a glass jar. Overall, no complaints here and I'll keep coming back for more spices!

Used to be the best place in Seattle to buy quality spices in bulk. No more. They pre-package everything and it's pretty much the same as buying at a grocery store. Only difference is you can get a bigger variety here. But the days when they used to let you make a list with a little pencil and paper on clipboard and hand it to the clerk are LONG GONE. Sadly. Just another depressing story of a business gone to the homogenized one size fits all business model.

A severe decline in quality since old management left last year.They're turning it from a quality spice shop into the most profitable adventure possible... I don't mind the price hikes but they've kicked their best high end items off the menu. Will have to find a new place to do business.

Bad move changing to crappy little plastic bags for packaging. I would never buy their spice again for gifts. Way to cheapen your business. Would have been more than happy to pay more for the glass bottles if financial sustainability is your goal going cheap isn't gonna help.