When Georgetown's Country Inn Roadhouse went up for sale in 2007, Alan Phillips and La Dele Sines knew they had to buy it and preserve one of the last pieces of the old Seattle neighborhood's history. The building, which has stood at the intersection of Carleton Avenue and South Warsaw Street since 1904, was once a site of Seattle vice: Prohibition-era drinking and gambling on the main floor and sex in the "hotel" upstairs.

Phillips and Sines revived the old saloon as Carleton Avenue Grocery, an old-timey corner store stocked with everything from toiletries and standard pantry staples to smoked fish, local wines, and craft sodas. While big-brand stores take over much of Seattle, the duo hope their little grocery can help keep the scrappy, small business spirit of Georgetown alive.

Phillips talked to us about the struggles of running a small business in Seattle, as the city grows and becomes increasingly expensive.

[Writer's note: This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.]

Why did you decide to buy the roadhouse building and open Carleton Grocery?

Over the years, this little mom and pop grocery became pretty run down. The one thing I said was, "If it comes up for sale, we should buy it and bring it back." And we did!

But it wasn’t just the business for sale, it was the whole [building]. We ended up selling our house simultaneously and [buying] the building. Now we live upstairs.

What's your favorite part about being a small business-owner?

We don’t have the insecurities a lot of businesses have. Our rent wouldn’t double. We wouldn’t have started the business otherwise. It’s good to have a stable place to operate. It’s a model disappearing all over the world.

It’s nice having to not really answer to anybody. If we want to try something different, we can do it. As far as running something like we are, it’s nice to [get to] know your neighbors. That’s the type of business we’re running. It caters to the people who live and work around here.

What's most challenging about running a small business in Seattle?

As far as running a small grocery store, you’ll never get rich doing this. It’s tough particularly because people, they’re used to big businesses [like] supermarkets.

We had a small drug store, Georgetown Pharmacy, which closed in 2009. It had been in Georgetown forever, basically. When that closed, most of the people who went there, people transferred to the pharmacies in the big supermarkets. Now they’ll pop up to Safeway to get their prescriptions.

Some customers will shop with us for their groceries, then go to the local pet stores, or even the local meat market, Hitchcock Deli. But [most people] don’t do that anymore. It’s a bit of a struggle of operating. And now we have to compete with online businesses, too!

What's your most popular product?

"Definitely bananas and toilet paper!" Sines shouted from across the store.

"Don't tell her that!" said Phillips. "We have lots of fancy sodas. We also sell cards made by an artist just around the corner. We once tried selling Marmite, but that didn't go well."

What’s your favorite spot in Georgetown?

Oh, it’s the Hat 'n' Boots [at Oxbow Park]. I’m kind of partial to them.

What’s one thing you wish you could change about Georgetown?

The biggest threat to the neighborhood has always been from City Hall [with rezoning]. There’s disregard for the residential history and nature of the neighborhood. We’ve had to fight to survive.

How has your neighborhood changed in the years you’ve owned your business?

It’s so strange to see all this new construction. A single family house was just built on the block over and it sold for over $700,000. When we opened the store, there was already a [housing] bubble. It was strange then and it’s still hard to believe now.

But people care about the neighborhood. I see us as the next wave of cranky, old people complaining about newcomers.