A new University of Washington project maps Little Free Pantries around the Seattle area, making it easier to find and donate to the community-run food cupboards.

Why it matters: The small pantries — which are like Little Free Libraries, but for food — are becoming more common locally. But knowing where they are, and what goods they already have versus which they might need, can be a challenge.

Zoom in: A UW team created a tool called PantryMap.org to not only pinpoint locations of dozens of pantries, but also to provide information about what's inside each one.

• The app lets people share what food they've donated and add items to a wish list for each location.

What they're saying: "We know that there is a lot of food insecurity in Seattle and in the United States in general," Giacomo Dalla Chiara, a UW senior research scientist with the UW Urban Freight Lab, said in a news release.

• "But we know that there is also a lot of food waste. ... And we want to see how grassroots efforts like micropantries can address both food insecurity and waste at the same time."

Between the lines: The UW team installed weight sensors on a few pantries to detect their stock levels and update the app automatically — part of a data-gathering experiment to see how the pantries are used.

• "It puts numbers on what we're actually accomplishing, and it helps us get a lot more in touch with what's going on on this street," said Stephen Crippen, rector at St. Paul's Episcopal Church near Seattle Center, which runs a Little Free Pantry with a new sensor installed.

What we're watching: The UW team is working with businesses and nonprofits "to encourage and track food distribution throughout the pantry network," per the university.

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Barnes & Noble has opened a new location downtown, taking over the Pike Street spot formerly occupied by The North Face.

Why it matters: The bookseller's return to the city center is a bright spot for downtown retail after several high-profile closures in recent years.

Zoom in: The new store, which opened last week, occupies nearly 18,000 square feet of retail space across multiple floors.

Flashback: The bookseller previously had a location in the nearby Pacific Place mall, but that store closed in early 2020.

Stop by: 520 Pike Street.

• Open 9am-8pm Monday to Thursday; 9am-9pm Friday and Saturday; 10am-8pm Sunday.

Tell a bookworm

✅ Two Washington cities — Spokane and Pasco — are included on Forbes' list of the 25 best places to retire in 2026. (Kitsap Sun)

📉 Starbucks is laying off 61 technology workers at its Seattle headquarters, a state filing shows. The cuts are part of the company's previously announced reorganization of its tech division. (Seattle Times)

Police were still searching yesterday for the person who fatally stabbed a 19-year-old UW student at an off-campus housing complex over the weekend. (KING 5)

We apparently have some eagle-eyed, transit-riding readers — which made our last challenge a bit too easy for many of you.

• The mystery photo we featured last week was from the U District light rail station.

The windows are part of an art installation by Lead Pencil Studios.

• Sound Transit says the sculptures were meant to "evoke the architectural ornament once seen on historic buildings."

Congratulations to all of you who got this one right! We'll try to do a better job stumping you next time.