Seattle Icon Pike Place Fish Market Modernizes Its High Foot-Traffic Operations with Square

DISTRIBUTED-WORKFORCE/OAKLAND, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 5, 2026--

Square today announced that Pike Place Fish Market, the legendary Seattle seafood institution that has called Pike Place Market home since 1930, has selected Square as its unified commerce platform. After more than a decade operating on another system, Pike Place Fish Market made the move to Square to modernize its day-to-day operations, streamline in-person payments, and build a technology foundation capable of growing alongside the business – all while staying true to the high-energy experience that has made it one of the most storied market destinations in the United States.

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Pike Place Fish Market is a fixture of the Pike Place Market that has drawn locals and visitors alike for nearly a century, welcoming more than 20,000 visitors daily. The business is as famous for its experience as its high-quality seafood: fishmongers toss purchased fish through the air in a tradition that dates to the 1960s, when owner John Yokoyama improvised a throw to a colleague to save time at a busy counter and turned a practical workaround into one of the most recognizable retail traditions in the world.

That moment of spontaneous ingenuity has since inspired books, documentaries, and a management philosophy studied by businesses around the world. Situated within one of the oldest and largest continuously operating public markets in the United States – a nine-acre historic landmark founded in 1907 and considered by many the soul of Seattle – Pike Place Fish Market has built its reputation on the belief that buying fish should be an unforgettable experience. But while the business continues to honor its history, its leadership knew it was time to update its technical foundation.

In 2018, four veteran Pike Place Fish Market fishmongers – Jaison Scott, Ryan Reese, Sam Samson, and Anders Miller, with over 80 years of combined experience at Pike Place – purchased the business from Yokoyama, who had spent decades building its “World Famous” reputation through exceptional sourcing, customer service, and community commitment. The new owners have carried that legacy forward, earning recognition from the U.S. Small Business Administration as a legacy business honored for longevity and community impact, in a distinction celebrated by Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell, who dubbed the fishmongers “genuine ambassadors to the city.”

Modernizing Without Losing Its Infamous Heritage

For more than a decade, Pike Place Fish Market’s payment operations were tied to a bank financing arrangement that required use of an outdated processing provider. When that obligation evolved, the team saw an opportunity to rethink its approach, moving away from manual payment entry and a traditional setup, and instead toward a modern platform that could evolve with the business’ community and ambitions.

The need for reliability spans every season: in summer, the market faces an intense crush of foot traffic – with as many as four cruise ships docked simultaneously, each loading and unloading thousands of passengers directly in front of the market. In winter, the business flips, with roughly 80% of volume shifting to online and phone orders for nationwide overnight seafood delivery. Square stood out for its competitive pricing, the breadth of tools available to grow into over time, and an experience designed to be intuitive to hands-full operators from day one.

“For a small business like ours, it really comes down to relationships. That matters more to us than anything else. We love doing business with people we like doing business with, and that’s exactly what this partnership has been,” said Ryan Reese, Co-Owner of Pike Place Fish Market.

Pike Place Fish Market now runs on Square Plus with Square Terminal, giving the team a fast, reliable, and flexible payment experience that fits the high-energy, high-traffic environment of one of Seattle’s busiest destinations. With its built-in receipt printer, space-saving design, long-lasting battery, and ability to take offline payments, the Square Terminal proved the ideal setup for the brand’s unique, open-air venue and high foot traffic. On the backend, Square’s integration ecosystem means the business can adopt additional capabilities over time as its needs evolve – a model that matched how the Fish Market wanted to approach modernization: thoughtfully, and on its own terms.

The business’s commitment to sustainability runs alongside its commitment to community. Every species sold at Pike Place Fish Market is carefully evaluated for sourcing method and environmental impact before it reaches the counter – a standard the team holds as non-negotiable, and one that extends to how it chooses its business partners.

Looking ahead, the team is particularly excited about the marketing possibilities unlocked by Square’s automatic customer data capture at the point of sale. With hundreds of transactions daily – from local regulars to visitors from around the world – Pike Place Fish Market is building a growing database of customers it can reach directly for the first time, without requiring staff to manually collect contact information. For a business that has long relied on the power of the in-person experience to drive loyalty, the ability to stay connected with guests after they leave the market represents a significant new opportunity.

“Pike Place Fish Market has been turning a simple transaction into a memorable experience for nearly a hundred years – long before anyone used the word ‘experiential retail’ to describe it,” said James Schonzeit, Head of Food & Beverage at Square. “For a business with that kind of legacy, modernizing your technology is an important investment. We’re proud they chose Square as the platform to grow into and with, and we’re committed to making sure it helps drive their ambitions.”

To learn more about how Square powers food and beverage businesses, visit squareup.com/restaurants.

About Pike Place Fish Market

Founded in 1930 in Seattle’s historic Pike Place Market, Pike Place Fish Market is one of the world’s most recognized seafood markets. Known for its famous fish tossing, high-energy atmosphere, and commitment to exceptional seafood and customer service, Pike Place Fish Market has welcomed generations of locals and visitors from around the world.

Beyond the fish counter, Pike Place Fish Market has become known for its unique workplace culture and belief that work can be both meaningful and fun. Today, the market continues its tradition of connecting people through great seafood, memorable experiences, and the energy and spirit that have made Pike Place Market a Seattle icon for nearly a century.

About Square

Square helps businesses turn transactions into connections and businesses into neighborhood favorites.

In 2009, Square started with a simple invention – the first mobile card reader, which changed how the entire financial system thinks about small businesses. Square has since grown into a global business platform helping millions of sellers of all sizes participate and thrive in their communities. Whether independently run or a global chain, Square understands that sellers succeed when they have the freedom to focus on the experiences that keep customers coming back. From point of sale and payments to online commerce, staff management, cash flow tools, and more, Square brings together the tools sellers need to run and grow on one intelligent platform. For more information, visit squareup.com.

Disclaimer: Offline payments are processed automatically when you reconnect your device to the internet and will be declined if you do not reconnect to the internet within 24 hours of taking your first offline payment. By enabling offline payments, you are responsible for any expired, declined, or disputed payments accepted while offline. Square is unable to provide customer contact information for payments declined while offline. Offline payments are not supported on older versions of Square Reader for contactless and chip (1st generation, v1 and v2).

Photo courtesy of Square

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (AP) — An election in Bosnia on Sunday saw nationalist parties gain strength and the elevation of a separatist, pro-Russia leader in the Balkan country where ethnic tensions have led to political deadlock and stalled progress in moving closer to the European Union.

Bosnian Serb nationalist politician Milorad Dodik, who is banned from holding office and did not appear on the ballot, in a victory speech on Sunday credited U.S. President Donald Trump's return to power and Russian President Vladimir Putin's support for his Alliance of Independent Social Democrats' decisive win.

Dodik's ally, Zeljka Cvijanovic, took more than 55% of votes to be elected to her second term on Bosnia's tripartite presidency, representing the country's Serb-majority entity of Republika Srpska. Dodik's party's candidate for the entity's own president, Savo Minic, also won decisively.

In Bosnia's other entity, the Bosniak-Croat Federation, Darijana Filipovic of the nationalist Croatian Democratic Union appeared set to take the Croat seat on the presidency. The center-left incumbent Denis Becirovic of the Social Democratic party was ahead in the race for the Bosniak seat.

Kurt Bassuener, an analyst and co-founder of the Democratization Policy Council, a Berlin-based think-tank, said Bosnia's nationalist parties “all gained ground” in the election, which he believes could lead to further instability that has plagued and divided Bosnia since its brutal 1992-95 war.

Around 3.4 million voters on Sunday were eligible to choose the three members of the country’s multi-ethnic tripartite presidency, lawmakers for the national parliament, and heads of institutions for the country’s two entities: the Bosniak-majority Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Republika Srpska, which is dominated by ethnic Serbs.

Bosnia has a complex web of governing institutions that were created by a U.S.-brokered peace agreement in 1995 in an effort to manage the ethnic divisions between Muslim Bosniaks, Orthodox Serbs and Catholic Croats that gave rise to the war, which killed over 100,000 people and displaced millions.

That political complexity, and the ethnic tensions which have been inflamed by some of Bosnia's politicians, has blocked Bosnia’s progress toward joining the EU despite the bloc’s efforts to encourage the country’s divided leaders to work together for reform.

Meanwhile, Putin has relied on the pro-Russian Dodik, who has advocated for Republika Srpska to separate and join Serbia, to maintain Moscow's influence in the Western Balkans.

Bassuener, the analyst, said that Sunday’s success of nationalist candidates along ethnic lines creates “more threats of instability,” which is “a real challenge to Europe, because they have been the dominant actor and remain such now, but they have effectively a moribund policy.”

He noted the United States' quest for influence in Bosnia as well, pointing out that in Dodik's victory speech on Sunday, he “said triumphantly … that if it weren’t for Donald Trump, we’d be politically dead.”

Trump's administration lifted sanctions on Dodik and his family members last year that had been imposed by Joe Biden's administration in 2022 over accusations that Dodik had engaged in corruption and threatened to destabilize the region with his separatist efforts.

Bassuener said that the EU using enlargement as its means for exercising influence in Bosnia has “given running room to the nationalists to use fear as a political tool.”

“I wouldn’t take yesterday’s electoral results as a reading of what people necessarily want. I think it’s what they’re afraid of,” he said.

As Bosnia faces economic decline, a youth exodus and stalled progress toward the EU, many voters have expressed a desire for an end to divisive politics and more cooperation among leaders of all ethnicities.

Radomir Erceg, a resident of Republika Srpska's administrative capital Banja Luka, said Bosnia “should not be going back into the past.”

“We should have compromise between each other. I was watching Bosniak leaders last night on TV, and I think they have to start talking with Dodik. There should not be any conditions from their side, but also no conditions from our side toward them,” he said.

Ilma Rakic, a resident of Bosnia's capital Sarajevo, bemoaned the lack of youth engagement in Bosnia's public life. Hundreds of thousands of people under 40 have emigrated in recent years.

“Ï don’t think there is enough of them (young people) in politics. They should activate themselves. What we have today is very weak,” Rakic said.

Spike reported from Budapest, Hungary.

Leader of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), Milorad Dodik, speaks during a news conference following the publication of general election results, in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Radivoje Pavicic)

Denis Becirovic of Social Democratic Party (SDP) speaks at a news conference where he declared himself the winner of the Bosniak seat of the tripartite Bosnian Presidency in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Zeljka Cvijanovic of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD), speaks during a news conference following the publication of general election results, in Banja Luka, Bosnia, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Radivoje Pavicic)

An elderly man waits, backdropped by posters with voting instructions, to cast his ballot during the general election in Sarajevo, Bosnia, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Armin Durgut)

Milorad Dodik, former president of the Serb-majority Republika Srpska shows a ballot paper at a polling station in Laktasi, northwest of Sarajevo, Bosnia, Sunday, Oct. 4, 2026. (AP Photo/Radivoje Pavicic)