New insurance agency on Mercer Island

A retail space in the 77 Central building along Sunset Highway is newly occupied by Allstate insurance agency. Jeremy Olson, the agency owner, purchased the space in November 2011 and moved in at the beginning of February.

A retail space in the 77 Central building along Sunset Highway is newly occupied by Allstate insurance agency. Jeremy Olson, the agency owner, purchased the space in November 2011 and moved in at the beginning of February.

“This has been my only job,” said Olson, a third-generation insurance agent. His grandfather was an insurance agent for 50 years, and his father has been in the same business for 40 years.

“I literally knew I was going to be an insurance agent since age 4 — I was pretty much raised to do this,” Olson said. Growing up, he would go into his dad’s office and learn things, and worked for his dad during some of his teenage years. Then, two days after graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in sociology, Olson started working for an insurance agent in Ballard. He started his own agency in 1997 in Belltown.

Now, 15 years later, the Snoqualmie Ridge resident makes the rounds between multiple Allstate locations that he has established — Ballard, Renton, Burien and Belltown.

A staff of four works out of the Mercer Island location, in the 77 Central 753-square-foot live-work space that costs $1,550 per month.

Allstate offers vehicle, motorcycle, homeowners, condominium, renters, business, boat and flood insurance, in addition to annuities, IRAs, mutual funds and life insurance, and other services.

The rewarding part of the job, Olson said — whether talking to a customer about buying a new home or car, or fixing a vehicle — is seeing the customer made whole again.

“It’s something different every day,” he said.

Allstate is located at 7785 Sunset Hwy., Suite 247, and can be reached at (206) 257-2420.