Mike Smith, who has been an observer of the Magnolia business community for more than 42 years, sat on a stool in the Leroux Fine Apparel store and assessed the recent economic ups and downs of his local business community.
“For the last two and half years, it’s been wacky for everybody,” Smith said. “I would say that we’ve turned the corner and things are modestly getting better.”
Alexandra Smith echoed her husband’s views, saying that merchants can still do well if they pick the right business and have the tenacity to make it a success.
Such cautious optimism voiced by the Smiths appears to be the general attitude among many merchants in the Magnolia area. After more than two years of recession economics, sales appear to be on the upswing, empty businesses are filling up and area anchor stores are looking for larger spaces.
Just some of the recent changes include the Wheeler Street Kitchen opening last October; The Magnolia Village Pub was acquired by Larry Steadman and his son, Joel, and reopened in December; and Jason and Christina Arnold just recently reopened Luigi’s Pizza & Pasta. Outside the village a few blocks, Bill the Butcher opened its fifth shop in the former 7-11 convenient store location at 3800 34th Ave. W., on July 4th last year.
For Carrie and Greg Campbell, their decision to open the Wheeler Street Kitchen was a labor of love.
The couple, who were sweethearts at Garfield High School and have been married for 19 years, have deep ties to the Magnolia area. They have lived in Magnolia for the past 12 years. Carrie Campbell’s parents are from Magnolia and the couple’s son, Josh, is an eighth grader and daughter, Gaby, a sixth grader at Catharine Blaine K-8 – just a block from the restaurant.
Greg Campbell, a trained chef from New York’s Culinary Institute of America, interned at Spago, the famed Los Angeles restaurant owned by Wolfgang Puck. From there, Campbell helped launch the Third Floor Fish Café in Kirkland, and now the Wheeler Street Kitchen. The desire to own a restaurant a little closer to home had always been in the works for the Campbells.
Greg Campbell said that even during a recession, good, local restaurants do pretty well. So, he felt confident starting the café in Magnolia.
But food is only a small part of the story. There is a new chiropractic service, hair salon and electronics store, just to name a few. Probably the biggest new resident is Roseburg, OR. – based Umpqua Bank, which plans to join a throng of financial institutions this spring with branches in the village. Umpqua will share the site of the former Hollywood Video location at 2236 32nd Avenue West with Pet Pros. The pet store is moving from a smaller location in the village.
While this growing number of bank branches may seem excessive, Umpqua officials appear to believe there is enough demand to go around. Eve Callahan, the vice president of communications for Umpqua Bank, said the financial institution had little presence in the Seattle area until recently when it acquired the assets of Evergreen Bank and Rainier Pacific Bank through deals set up by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Evergreen and Rainier Pacific were victims of the sour economy and had been taken over by the FDIC.
Callahan said the bank had been eyeing the Magnolia area for some time as a potential site for expansion. Umpqua plans to open the branch in June.
“We think Magnolia is a great fit four our culture and brand,” Callahan said. “We really like the vibrant culture of the area.”
J’Amy Owens feels the same way. The CEO of Bill the Butcher neighborhood meat shops launched the company in the fall of 2009. The Magnolia location was the company’s fifth. Owens likes the setting so much that some of the company’s corporate operations were moved to the building.
“Our business mission is to bring the butcher shop back to the neighborhood. That is what drives all of our decisions,” Owens said. “It seemed to me that Magnolia was a bit landlocked and hadn’t gotten a lot of new food service retailers in some time. We were encouraged by Magnolia residents to open a shop here. It has turned out to be a really good decision.”
Despite all the activity, the area real estate market is still a bit sluggish, says longtime area realtor Art Van der Wel, who has worked in Magnolia since 1967. Van der Wel says the residential real estate market has stabilized in the past year and while there aren’t “a ton” of sales, he said there is enough that realtors can figure out a realistic price for a given home.
“Business is solid,” Van der Wel said of the real estate sector. “It’s not great, but it’s better than last year and the mix of activity is improving.”
As for the commercial market, Magnolia has very little space left for businesses looking to enter the relatively affluent and isolated community. Van der Wel said that outside of certain properties on the east end of the village, such as the large space that recently held a Mieko’s gym, the only spaces left are smaller locations. Same is true for other business districts, such as Government Road and Commodore Way on the north side of Magnolia. “I feel really good about the marketplace,” Van der Wel said.
“You’d like to see it faster. But that faster market isn’t always a better market.”
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