Because Gilman Village Turned Old Barns Into a Shopping District
In 1972, Safeway announced plans to demolish three old buildings on Front Street to build a new grocery store. One of them held The Country Mouse, an arts-and-crafts shop run by Betty Konarski and Marilyn Gray. Konarski suggested an alternative to local developer Marvin Mohl: move the buildings rather than lose them. Mohl, who owned nearby land, did exactly that, relocating the structures onto seven wooded acres just east of downtown.
Today, that idea has grown into Gilman Village: more than 40 independent shops and restaurants tucked into a maze of boardwalks, pergolas, and century-old structures that feel nothing like a standard shopping center, because they aren't one. The Country Mouse itself closed in the late 1980s, but its role in saving the buildings is still the reason Gilman Village exists at all.
Two Downtowns, One Walkable City
Gilman Village sits alongside historic Olde Town Issaquah, the city's original downtown core along Front Street, where brewpubs, boutiques, and long-standing local restaurants line a genuinely walkable street grid. Between the two, Issaquah offers something a lot of Eastside cities are still trying to build from scratch: an authentic, pedestrian-scaled downtown with real history behind it, not a recently-built "lifestyle center" designed to look old.
For buyers who want newer, more conventional retail, Issaquah has that too. Issaquah Commons brings Trader Joe's, Target, and REI under one roof, and Grand Ridge Plaza up on the Highlands adds a movie theater and 50-plus businesses. But it's the older, quirkier core that tends to show up in a buyer's "why we picked Issaquah" story.
The Selling Point Buyers Don't Always Say Out Loud
Walkable, character-driven downtowns are in short supply on the Eastside, and buyers coming from cities, or from more spread-out, drive-everywhere suburbs, notice immediately when a place has one. Gilman Village and Olde Town give Issaquah a genuine sense of "there's somewhere to walk to," which matters just as much for weekday errands as it does for a Saturday afternoon.
For Buyers & Sellers
If a listing sits within an easy walk of Gilman Village or Front Street, that walkability is worth featuring prominently. It's one of the more differentiating features you can offer versus comparable homes in Sammamish or the Issaquah Highlands. Buyers relocating from walkable cities in particular respond to "stroll to dinner" language.
Want to see which streets put you within strolling distance of Gilman Village and downtown Issaquah? We know this stretch of town block by block. Reach out to Kelly Azzarello Real Estate and we'll show you around.
