Fresh. Wild. Natural. Sustainable. Local. These are important words when you’re shopping for seafood. And they’re important words to Tony and Kira DeRito, owners of The Olympia Seafood Company. For the past 13 years, their downtown Olympia shop has been providing fresh fish to a loyal and steadily growing clientele.
“We feel fortunate that our customer base has grown bigger and bigger every year,” says Kira of the growth she attributes mainly to word-of-mouth advertising. “We’re local and family-owned, and we’re here to serve the community of Olympia with sustainable, nourishing seafood options.”
The couple buys as much as they can locally, including wild salmon and Dungeness crab caught by Kira’s father and two brothers who are commercial fishermen out of Westport. “This is also an exceptional area for locally cultured shellfish and we take as much advantage as we can,” Kira says, of their selection of clams, mussels and oysters.
Every Wednesday Olympia Seafood Co. sends an electronic newsletter out to nearly 2500 customers. The newsletter includes a list of what is currently available, as well as information and recipes for that week’s featured fish. Their goal is to make it easy for people to include sustainable fish in their diet by learning what to buy and how to prepare it.
The DeRitos and their team of employees are happy to help customers with everything from choosing the right item, to removing skin and bones for a specific preparation. If a shopper is new to buying or cooking seafood, ask for tips from any one of the employees, including professional chef Mike Holbein. There is also a bookshelf full of seafood cookbooks available for customers to flip through for inspiration and recipes.
In late January, their refrigerated fresh fish case included wild prawns, scallops, crab meat, live Dungeness crab, house-made salmon cakes and crab cakes, shelled oysters, live oysters, sole, cod, wild salmon and halibut, just to name a few. They also make their own tartar sauce and sell their own seafood seasoning and blackening spices.
Over the years Olympia Seafood has added more convenience items, including their own salmon cakes, crab cakes and cod cakes. In addition, hot clam chowder and crab or shrimp cocktails are always available to go. Salmon dip and seaweed salad are also available daily.
Sustainability is a key word when the DeRitos talk about seafood. “We respect the seafood and sustainable natural resources,” says Kira. Her connection and commitment to the industry began during her childhood in Westport and remains strong. She speaks on behalf of commercial fishermen at state fisheries meetings and believes strongly in local fish for local people.
When Tony, a California native, and Kira met in Seattle, they were both working in the seafood industry. They moved to Olympia in 1999 and opened the doors of The Olympia Seafood Company soon after. They’ve come a long way from their early days of selling fresh crab out of the back door. The thriving storefront now offers a wide array of quality sustainable seafood six days a week.
Recipes, product information, and links to additional information about environmentally responsible and healthy fish and shellfish are available on their website. Click here or sign up in the store to register for the weekly electronic newsletter.
411 Columbia Street NW
Olympia, WA 98501
360-570-8816
Store hours:
Tuesday – 12:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Wednesday through Saturday – 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Sunday – 11:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
