No Other Way but Up?

Lynden Clings to Potential
as Retail Base Fades Away

by Dave Brumbaugh

If not for the bad news, there seemingly would be little news at all for Lynden’s business community.

The second-largest city in Whatcom County, with a population above 9,000, has seen its downtown retail base dwindle dangerously low, especially in the last 12 months.

Media coverage of Lynden — generally favorable because of popular, photogenic events such as Holland Days, the Plowing Match and the Northwest Washington Fair — has had some controversial issues to chew on.

Haggen Inc. publicly threw in the towel — although some talks may be continuing — in March after two years of negotiations on its attempt to buy city land and build a downtown Lynden supermarket. Haggen’s proposal was supported by most downtown businesses, some of which were willing to compete with the grocery giant in exchange for the large volume of shoppers it would draw. The failed negotiations also have further delayed the city’s plans to build a new library — a sore point for many residents.

Also, a fraud trial of Lynden City Council member Rose DeGroot, involving her business relationship with Dutch Mothers restaurant and Lynden Dutch Bakery owners Dave and Debbie Black, is scheduled to begin this month and likely will generate plenty of stories.

 

Bright spots

Lynden does have some positive aspects that give its businesses some optimism. The city has experienced steady population growth in the 1980s and ’90s, adding numerous potential customers, particularly in the areas of home furnishings and improvements. Professional services (such as banks and insurance, medical and legal firms) are well represented.

The north county’s farms, particularly its dairies, are looking toward a better year for prices of their products. This will brighten the outlook for agriculture-related businesses in Lynden that provide equipment, feed, fertilizer and a variety of services.

Two businesses that have opened in the last several years point to what is possible. Grandiflora, a retail gift and garden shop on the fringe of downtown, has been busy since opening last fall. Siscosoft, Business Pulse’s 2001 Start-up Business of the Year, is becoming known among golfers throughout the country with the Golfwits program created by founder and software developer Kent Sisco.

Construction is scheduled this summer to connect Front Street with Tromp Road, one step in the development of nearly 900 acres west of the Guide Meridian that is zoned for industrial and commercial uses. Much of the land was annexed by the city in 1994 yet little development has occurred there.

In August, Homestead Northwest renamed its golf course and newly expanded facilities the Homestead Farms Golf Resort and Convention Center. It includes a fine-dining restaurant, a large banquet room, the Six Horse Pub and a fitness center with 3,000 members.

“Things are pretty bright and hopeful,” says Glenn Powell, general manager.

He notes that the restaurant experienced its best sales day on Mother’s Day and the golf course recorded its busiest weekend just a week later. The banquet room is booked on Fridays and Saturdays through September.

“We’re pretty encouraged,” Powell remarks.

The renowned golf course, which draws about half of its players from British Columbia and a significant number from the Seattle area, projects that 30,000 rounds will be played there this year. It should receive a boost from the opening in late May of an 18-hole, par-71 putting course adjacent to the clubhouse.

Homestead’s next major project will be the construction of hotel rooms. The first phase, approximately 16 rooms, likely will be completed next year. Powell says Homestead Farms eventually will have around 40 rooms. It currently offers visitors accommodations in 20 one- and two-bedroom condominiums just a block away.

 

Retail’s downturn

But the community’s successes haven’t done much to fill vacancies in retail buildings.

Two longtime businesses, the Alsum & Bode furniture store and the New Crescent clothing store, closed for a variety of reasons. Lynden Mercantile, a collection of booths with gift items in one of downtown’s larger buildings, shut its doors in May 2000 after failing to survive seven months, citing dismal sales. None of their spaces have new tenants yet.

Lynden’s Fairway Center also has been hit. The Boomer’s Sewing & Vacuum store closed in April and the DeWaard & Bode appliance store, another business with long Lynden roots, announced in May that its operation there was ending. Both businesses are encouraging customers to visit their Bellingham stores — just another thorn in the side of Lynden, which constantly struggles with the bigger city for the shopping dollars of north-county residents.

Two of the Fairway Center’s largest tenants now are a church and a dental-equipment assembler, which don’t help the complex’s retail merchants.

Retail isn’t the only business sector troubled in Lynden. Andgar, Inc., which specializes in metal fabrication and heating, ventilation and air-conditioning systems, earlier this year completed its move to a light-industrial park near Ferndale. Starting this fall and taking place over the next four years, trucking company LTI is moving most of its operations to Ferndale because of better access to the BP ARCO and Tosco refineries and Interstate 5.

Even some of the good news is somewhat tainted. A shopping center at the corner of the Guide Meridian and Birch Bay-Lynden Road that will be anchored by a Safeway supermarket originally was scheduled to open this spring. However, construction hadn’t even begun as of mid-May and the tentative opening date now is in the first quarter of 2002. Also, some believe the center will draw more shoppers away from Lynden’s downtown and others suspect it will lead Brown & Cole Stores to close one of its two supermarkets, Cost Cutter and the Fair Market.