AirportTerminalGuy · CC BY 4.0 · edited
Seattle-Tacoma International Airport has picked 11 companies to run 17 new dining and retail spaces. None of them opens in 2026.
That gap between the announcement and the espresso is the part worth understanding. The Port of Seattle published the selections on September 15, and its own wording is that the concessionaires will bring the concepts to life starting next year, with construction staggered and some spaces not breaking ground until 2027. If you pass through SEA on the way to or from an Alaska sailing, our Seattle cruise port to airport guide covers the transfer that sits either side of that layover.
- What happened: 11 concessionaires selected for 17 spaces through a competitive bid.
- When it happened: September 15, 2026.
- When anything opens: Not this year. The Port says next year at the earliest, with construction staggered.
- Where: Spaces are identified by code across Concourses A, B, C and D and the Central Terminal.
- What is not published: Opening dates, and what occupies any of these spaces today.
A Selection Is Not an Opening
This is a procurement result. Eleven companies won the right to build and operate in 17 locations, and the build has not started.
Airport concessions run on long leases awarded in packages, and the gap between winning a package and serving a customer is routinely a year or more once design, permitting and fit-out are done inside a live terminal. The Port says as much: construction on each space will be staggered.
Treat the list as a map of where SEA is heading rather than a menu for your next layover. For the current one, the expanded C Concourse opened with 10 new dining and retail stops and those are trading now.
The Coffee Is the Local Signal
Four of the packages are food and beverage, and three of the four are coffee or bakery. Anchorhead Coffee Co. takes a space in Concourse A, The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf takes another, The Flora Bakehouse goes into Concourse C and The Cafe Hagen Hall into the Central Terminal.
The Port frames this explicitly as a regional play, saying the new coffee concessions represent the region’s roasters and flavor profiles. For a traveler that is the difference between an airport that sells you coffee and an airport that sells you Seattle coffee, which on a two hour layover is a real distinction.
Retail Splits Into Local Names and Global Brands
The retail packages run in two directions at once. On one side are Pacific Northwest names: Tender Loving Empire, Ballard Harbor Co., Rainier Outfitters, Queen Ann Hill, Pioneer Square Underground, Rainy Day Market, SODO Supply and Love, Seattle.
On the other are national and global brands: a combined Tom Ford, Jo Malone and M.A.C beauty space, Johnston & Murphy, and Chalo. Gameway, a video gaming lounge concept, takes a Central Terminal space, which is the one on the list that is neither food nor merchandise.
KIRO 7 reported the same list locally, and the balance is the thing to notice rather than any single name.
That mix is deliberate. The Port describes its dining and retail program as carrying popular national brands alongside local favorites, and the split across these 13 packages is close to even.
Six Criteria, and a Small Business Carve-Out
The Port lists the six things it scored: background and financial capability, concept development and customer experience, unit design and materials, the financial offer, management and staffing, and job quality and workforce development. It says the process included external independent facilitation and observation.
Five of the 13 packages are marked Small Business Exempt, which is the Port’s mechanism for reserving packages for smaller operators rather than letting the large concession groups take everything. Anchorhead, Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, The Flora Bakehouse, Chalo, Gameway and Tender Loving Empire all sit in that category.
The rest went to the specialists that run airport concessions at scale, including SSP America, Marshall Retail Group and Genesco.
What the Release Does Not Say
No opening dates for any of the 17 spaces. The only timing language is starting next year and staggered construction with some spaces beginning in 2027.
The release also does not say what currently occupies these locations, or whether any existing tenant is affected. The space codes are given without a key, so while most of them read as Concourses A through D and the Central Terminal, the Port has not published a plain English location list.
If a specific shop matters to your routine at SEA, the honest answer today is that nothing has been confirmed to change for it.
| If you… | What to do |
|---|---|
| Are flying through SEA this year | Nothing on this list affects your trip. None of the 17 spaces opens in 2026. |
| Want good coffee on a layover now | Use what is trading in the expanded C Concourse rather than waiting on these. |
| Are planning SEA travel in 2027 and beyond | Expect a staggered rollout, not a single opening date. Some spaces do not start construction until 2027. |
| Rely on a particular shop at SEA | The Port has not published what occupies these spaces now, so no current tenant has been named as affected. |
Zero effect on 2026 trips. This is a contract award, and the earliest the Port describes is next year.
The rollout is staggered by design. Expect these to appear a few at a time across concourses rather than all at once.
Location codes are not a map. The Port lists spaces as codes. Until it publishes a plain location list, do not assume a named shop lands near a particular gate.
When do the new SEA shops open?
No opening dates have been published. The Port says the concepts arrive starting next year, with construction staggered and some spaces beginning in 2027.
How many new places are coming?
Seventeen spaces, awarded to 11 concessionaires across 13 packages.
Are these local businesses or national chains?
Both. The list includes Pacific Northwest names alongside national and global brands, and several packages were reserved for small businesses.
Is any existing shop at SEA closing?
The Port’s announcement does not say what occupies these spaces today and names no current tenant as affected.
