Capers, a fixture in the West Seattle Junction at 4521 California Avenue Southwest celebrated 25 years in business Thursday, June 24 with a party for who else? Their customers. The furniture, home decor and gift store was founded in 1985.

"Customers coming in and supporting the company. That's how we survived," said owner Lisa Myers, "and always doing new things and doing different marketing and being willing to try different things all the time."

Originally the store had food, primarily to go, and later expanded into full cafe style service but also added kitchen products, and table linens, books and more. The store has been through many changes. "A lot of it was driven by customer demand," Myers said, "as customers changed we would try new things and if they bought what we tried then we would keep going in that direction. We've kind of gone the whole gamut of bulk coffee and then the grocery stores decided to sell that so we didn't really need to anymore and we were selling French Kitchen Tools, which didn't really sell so we started adding other stuff, so it's just been an evolution."

They began with espresso in bulk in 1985, moving into wedding catering in 1990, adding home items along the way and moving more aggressively into furniture in 2000, opening a location in Fremont (since closed) in 2005. Now they are "looking at reaching customers on the web." The store consolidated into a smaller space last year but has maintained its distinct sense of style.

The company mission has always been to "find well priced interesting products with an array of price points and to give great customer service and give back to the community," Myers said.

Myers doesn't have a lot of physical changes planned for the store but instead is moving more into the virtual world. "The biggest thing right now is integrating social media into our company, and continuing to find small companies we can grow with and find interesting products and bring to market what people are interested in purchasing."

Mary Summers, Lisa's partner and a Caper's veteran of 14 years said, "We love our customers. It's all about being in the neighborhood. That's what makes it fun to come to work. For 14 years I've gotten to know them. I know their kids, I know their grand kids. I wrap all their presents, I sell them the sympathy cards, you know, you are part of their life." Summers does most of the internal store displays (though everyone helps) and Myers does most of the buying. "We will move in any direction that the customer wants," Summers said, "cause that's how you stay alive, We've got to keep changing, growing, we have to be adaptable and you have to find out what the customer wants and get it for them."

You can call Capers at (206) 932-0371.