Clever Crow finds downtown perch
Store offers locally made products
by Christopher Key

Morgan Davis features locally handmade apparel in
her Champion Street shop called Clever Crow.

ow.If you’ve spent time working for a corporation and never been west of Ohio, owning a business in Bellingham is like a dream come true. Morgan Davis is from State College, Pa., and her dream is called Clever Crow.
If you’ve spent time working for a corporation and never been west of Ohio, owning a business in Bellingham is like a dream come true. Morgan Davis is from State College, Pa., and her dream is called Clever Crow.
Clever Crow specializes in handmade clothing and accessories.
“We host a craft circle here, so people can learn from others,” Davis said. “I may start a make and take program.”
She learned to sew and crochet as a child.
“I worked in the costume shop of the theatre department at Penn State,” Davis said. “That was a real confidence booster. I found that I could produce almost anything I could think of.”
She ran an embroidery shop at Penn State and worked in retail management.
“I was socking money away so I could finance my own business,” Davis said. “My boyfriend started a business last year so I could draw on that experience.”
She shares her space with a café called Pandora’s Box.
“We’re devoted to locally made clothing at reasonable prices,” Davis said. “Our customer is anyone who doesn’t want to buy at the mall stores. It’s mostly women’s apparel, but we have a few men’s things. I’m just now starting to advertise for shoppers in alternative publications. I’m not exactly geared for the mass market yet.”
Davis is always looking for people who make things.
“You’ll find anything in here from traditional to radical,” she said. “If we have a style, it’s eclectic.”
Clever Crow is located on Champion Street in downtown Bellingham.

Auto row adds another
Premier Auto chooses Iowa Street
by Christopher Key

Jeremy Marglon has opened Premier Automotive
Service and Repair along Iowa Street’s auto row.

Bellingham’s auto row just gained a new business with the opening of Jeremy Marglon’s Premier Automotive Service and Repair. The shop offers state of the art computer diagnosis along with complete repair and service work on any kind of foreign or domestic car, van or truck. Marglon brings 16 years of experience to the business.
“For the past ten years, I’ve been managing businesses here in Bellingham,” he said. “It’s not hard to get work, even though there are 123 repair shops in the county. You just have to have a good name.”
“There can be a significant price difference with an independent shop and sometimes we can do the work faster,” Marglon said. “You get more personal service with us.”
That customer service is extremely important.
“I believe in educating customers on the repairs they’re paying for,” Marglon said. “I have very high standards.”
Performing scheduled maintenance helps keep cars in top shape and improves their efficiency.
“If you disregard a $500 maintenance issue, eventually it will cost you a lot more,” Marglon said.
He believes in building relationships rather than the transactional model of doing business. Marglon financed the business himself and has one employee.
“It’s tough to find good techs,” he said. “Cars are far more complex than they used to be and it takes constant training to keep up. Bellingham Technical College is a great resource. Instructors from Seattle can come here and use BTC equipment to put on classes.”
Eventually, he’d like to have a bigger facility and more techs.
“Being on auto row is a great advantage because of the number of people who drive by,” Marglon said. “We want to deliver a level of customer service that exceeds expectations.”

Bison keeps tradition alive
New business locates on State Street
by Christopher Key

Carly James and Kevin Nelson show off one of their
museum quality printing presses at Bison Bookbinding.

These are some examples of printing done by means
of letterpress at Bison. It leaves an impression,
to say the least.

Gutenberg and Ben Franklin would feel right at home
with this case of raised type.

Offset and digital may dominate the modern printing market, but there’s some traditional methods that are hanging on. Stroll into Bison Bookbinding on State Street and you’ll see a shop devoted to more traditional methods of printing. Carly James and Kevin Nelson are the owners.
“I got interested when I was at the University of Iowa and took some printmaking classes,” James said. “I decided I wanted to learn more about how to make books. I worked in offset print shops and binderies.”
At art school in Portland, she learned about letterpress and book arts.
“I worked at Towner Press here locally, getting the skills I needed to open my own shop,” James said. “Letterpress is a completely different process. It uses raised type and actually debosses the page as you print. Offset doesn’t leave an impression on the paper.”
Everything at Bison is done by hand and there is no waste.
“It’s far better environmentally and it’s efficient,” James said. “It gives your project a tactile quality. People respond to that character. It really stands out. You can do digital typography and still print by letterpress.”
Nelson added that they’re helping keep an art alive in the digital age.
“This method is better for things people want to hold onto; wedding invitations, keepsakes,” he said. “It’s really a different market than digital or offset. We’ve been doing more CD packages than wedding invitations so far. People seem interested in having their business cards letterpressed.”
Nelson and James made contact with local bridal shops to offer the letterpress option.
“Offset printers are not our competitors, but our partners,” Nelson said.
The new shop is doing a lot of book repair, but they don’t want to get involved with old and rare books. They’ve picked up some business from the library.
“Poets and writers who want to print a smaller edition of a book come to us,” James said.
There are three employees and one apprentice working in the shop.
“I was able to find the people I wanted and now have enough staff to get anything done,” James said. “We got older equipment because they don’t make what we need anymore and we want to preserve these machines.”
They utilized two investors, a bank loan and all their savings to open the shop.
“Letterpress is a recovering art,” James said. “For years, machines were scrapped. Now, they are back in demand. You can’t get them free like you could at one time.”
Location was important.
“We wanted to be downtown, not in some warehouse style location,” James said. “Our landlady decided to let us move in, partly because she loves what we do.”
Bison is part of the Downtown Gallery Walk and has been gaining some attention from that event.
“We plan to do some advertising, but so far it’s been mostly word of mouth and drive by business,” James said. “We’ll be going to bridal and book shows. We’d like to become a resource for other book artists in town, establish connections. Down the road a bit, we’d like to expand a bit into papermaking and silkscreening.”
Bison Bookbinding is more than just a print shop. It’s also a museum and art gallery.

Clinic welcomes new chiropractor
Brings expertise in disc decompression
by Christopher Key

Dr. Randall Hill moved from Hawaii to join Bellingham
Spinal Care, bringing new disc decompression technology.

Dr. Randall Hill left one earthly paradise to come to another. The graduate of Northwestern College of Chiropractic spent 10 years practicing in Maui before recently joining Bellingham Spinal Care on Birchwood Avenue.
“We spent four years community shopping,” Hill said. “This area has it all. We’re close to my wife’s family on Vancouver Island, there’s a business friendly environment and it’s a great spot for culture between Vancouver and Seattle.”
Hill brings with him a specialty that offers an alternative to surgery.
“Lumbar Cervical Decompression is a non-invasive treatment for the management of back or neck pain from spinal disc or facet joint injury,” he said. “It involves what’s called phasic distraction of the joints to help reabsorb bulging disc material and create fluid exchange to rehydrate and nourish degenerative discs. It’s an integral part of treatment that includes chiropractic adjustments, soft tissue techniques and exercises.”
Working in Hawaii helped Hill develop his approach to patient care.
“I may use new technologies, but I have an old fashioned, country doctor perspective,” he said. “I tell the staff to book extra time for each patient so I can listen to their concerns and help them truly understand their injury.”
Hill has taught back care classes for the American Red Cross and the American Chiropractic Association. In his spare time, he does ergonomic design consulting for sports manufacturer Clear Blue Hawaii and is an editorial advisor for Sports Edge magazine.
“I’ll be hiring a receptionist and clinical associates this month and have already received applications without placing an ad,” Hill said. “It’s a lot easier to find qualified people here than it is in Hawaii. The business environment here is better and the overhead is much lower.”
The community has provided a warm welcome so far.
“People are very open to complimentary care here,” Hill said. “The MDs are open and interested in the techniques I’m using.”
If his clinic schedule allows, Hill plans to spend a lot of time enjoying Whatcom County’s outdoor recreational opportunities.

WCC grad opens business
Gateway Centre scores another firm
by Christopher Key

Local law firms will discover a new resource
in North Sound Professional Support, founded
by WCC honors graduate Ronda Murphy.

Ronda Murphy graduated with honors from Whatcom Community College with a dual major in paralegal studies and business. Then she found there was no place to go to look for a job. That didn’t even slow her down. She created her own job with a new company called North Sound Professional Support.
“I decided to help other people just coming out of school and those just moving into the area,” Murphy said.
She is a veteran of the U. S. Air Force and has extensive experience in the business career field.
“I’ve provided administrative support in a broad mix of areas,” Murphy said.
Despite that background, it was scary going out on her own.
“Tiffany McVeety at the Small Business Development Center worked with me,” Murphy said. “They got me going in the right direction, set me up to succeed. My husband has 30 years of business experience and backs me up. I financed the business myself. What I’ve got going here will help the community a lot.”
What she has going is a business that supplies temporary paralegal and legal administrative staffing, process serving, filing of legal documentation, legal transcription, litigation preparation, legal research and legal document retrieval.
“Gateway Centre was in the cards all along,” Murphy said. “It has everything I need, like a receptionist and a copy machine. It saves a huge amount on overhead.”
She will perform some services herself and has half a dozen carefully screened people just waiting for her to call.
“My temps have a combined experience of over 60 years,” Murphy said. “I had experience process serving back East and can help with tough cases.”
She found the SBDC especially helpful with the transition between school and reality.
“People are very understanding about new businesses here,” Murphy said. “I’ve spent some time at networking events, put ads in the bar association newsletter and sent flyers to attorneys in Whatcom and Skagit Counties. I wanted to let them know we’re here and tell them about the advantages of outsourcing. I’d love to see the business become the best place for attorneys to find help and for paralegals to find work. Once I get good at this, I might branch out into other areas.”
Given her track record, there’s not much doubt about her success.

Gallery brightens downtown corner
Showcases eclectic collection
by Christopher Key

Karl and Julia Clauset have completely transformed
the retail space at the corner of Bay and Holly to
accommodate their gallery, Jelita Arts.

The retail space at the corner of Bay and Holly Streets used to leave something to be desired when it came to attractiveness. Julia and Karl Clauset have transformed the space into a jewel of a gallery called Jelita Arts, reflecting their diverse interests.
“Both of us like art,” Julia said. “I love to collect, especially fabrics. Karl likes prints and African art.”
Julia is an artist in her own right, creating hand painted porcelain pieces for the gallery. The two came here about one year ago from the Boston area, where they had lived for 25 years. Karl is originally from North Carolina and Julia is from Indonesia. He spent his career in education and met Julia while teaching at the American International School in Indonesia.
“We had heard good things about Bellingham and our son is going to the University of Victoria in British Columbia,” Karl said.
He still does occasional work as a consultant to schools and districts.
“We started with the idea of Julia’s stuff, then added artifacts from Asia and Africa,” Karl said. “A local artist came in and asked to be in the gallery. Now we have at least 10 local artisans bringing us such things as beaded jewelry and polymer sculptures for patio and garden.”
They extend an open invitation to other artisans.
“We financed the whole thing ourselves,” Karl said. “It was a substantial capital investment, but now the space has a lot of light. It also has a loft for Julia’s studio.”
Signs by Tomorrow contributed some colorful work to the scene.
“My family used to have a store in Indonesia,” Julia said. “I grew up in a store and worked in retail back East.”
Karl took business courses at Boston College.
“We’re planning for this to be an educational facility,” Karl said. “Julia is going to be conducting a workshop for kids on making Indonesian shadow puppets over winter break in February. We’ll also do a series of shows with local artists and participate in the gallery walk. Everybody has been very supportive and helpful. There’s a lot of interest in the arts here.”

Keeping them in stitches
Canvas shop opens on State Street
by Christopher Key

Greg Keeler and Oso are the principals of a new
business on State Street called Oyster Creek Canvas.

Bellingham and boats are almost synonymous. Many of those boats have canvas covers that wear out in harsh maritime conditions. Two people who worked in the local maritime industry have now joined forces as partners to offer a canvas fabrication and repair service on State Street. Oyster Creek Canvas is owned by Greg Keeler and Oso.
“My mom did a lot of sewing and a learned a lot working at Squalicum Marine,” Oso said.
Keeler had worked on boats for a long time and both had extensive contacts in the maritime industry.
“We didn’t start with this in mind,” Keeler said. “It just evolved. We started by renting this space and a machine donated by a friend. Then we bid on a machine on eBay and ended up buying a whole shop full of equipment from someone in Oregon.”
Oso got the business going while Keeler kept his other job in the maritime industry.
“We took out a line of credit to keep things rolling,” she said. “We got a lot of business through word of mouth and haven’t had to advertise yet. We ended up with a big contract that helped us a lot. Plus, we’ve been getting referrals from other canvas and upholstery shops.”
Right now, it’s just the two of them.
“There seems to be a lot of work out there,” Oso said “We may be able to hire a part time person soon and keep them busy.”
Working with the Small Business Development Center helped them get started.
“Greg’s Dad was also a big help,” Oso said. “He owns a car leasing company and helped us with a lot of business issues. We’re getting lots of customers for marine canvas and industrial contract sewing. It’s amazing what kind of stuff comes in.”
Oyster Creek makes and repairs kayak covers, tents and backpacks along with setting grommets.
“We just expanded into the space next door on State Street,” Oso said. “We’ll stay with marine canvas and do repairs, but we’ll also have a retail space up front for hardware, supplies, arts and crafts. We’re still learning all the skills along with how to balance work and having a life.”

Construction firm aims high
Vast experience among principals
by Christopher Key

Todd Lapinsky and Arlene Sanders are two of the
principals in a new firm called Credo Construction.

Credo, in Latin, means I believe. Credo Construction brings together four professionals who believe in the strength of Whatcom County’s building boom. Together, they have more than 50 years experience in the construction industry. Company president Todd Lapinsky learned his trade in Canada and is a dual citizen. Clarence Kobes is project manager, Harvey Pelleboer is site superintendent and Arlene Sanders is business development manager.
“I spent some time in the Seattle area supervising construction of homes for Microsoft executives, up to $4.5 million,” Lapinsky said. “I wanted to be closer to Canada, so I took a job with a Whatcom County firm. I ran all their major projects for the last three years.”
It was time for him to decide whether to continue or go out on his own.
“Two people from that firm came with me,” Lapinsky said. “I met Arlene on a development project and we just hit it off. We think alike.”
He used the time with the local company to learn the ground rules.
“Whatcom County is large and spread out,” Lapinsky said. “It took some time to learn the local rules and regulations. I’ve gone out on my own before, so it wasn’t too scary.”
His background includes development of both single and multi-family projects.
“I did a lot of work on the Vancouver waterfront,” Lapinsky said. “This town is a lot like Vancouver in that people like to be near the water. I love this area. It has a lot of potential.”
Credo Construction is not a design build firm.
“We want to get a wider spectrum of ideas rather than being locked into our own employees,” Lapinsky said. “We want to get a variety of designs.”
Arlene Sanders agrees.
“Different clients have different needs,” she said. “We need to be able to accommodate that. Design build can be good in residential projects, but maybe not in commercial.”
Lapinsky has firm ideas about how to run a project.
“We’ll set the project up so that it flows,” he said. “It should go smoothly for the client. We should finish on time with no arguments. That means looking at the project as a whole. We’ll take the same approach whether it’s a single residence or a major development.”
He doesn’t see a problem with the availability of land.
“Arlene is a licensed real estate agent,” Lapinsky said. “She helps us find good deals.”
There are eight employees in addition to the two principals.
“It’s hard to find good people,” Lapinsky said. “We went through a lot of applications. My philosophy is to treat them well, give them benefits and offer training.”
The company originally located in Crown Plaza downtown, then moved to Gateway Center.
“The services provided here really help keep overhead down,” Lapinsky said. “They’re friendly and accommodating.”
He sees Whatcom County settling into steady growth, rather than a boom and bust cycle. Hefty liability insurance premiums make it tough for a startup.
“I’ve never had a liability claim in 25 years,” Lapinsky said. “This company is self-financed. We didn’t borrow a dime and I’m proud of that.”
Credo wants to be a force without stepping on peoples’ toes.
“We pride ourselves on providing value within a budget,” Sanders said.
The company is already planning a 20 acre residential development, constructing a 6,000 square foot custom home and restoring a 16 unit condominium complex. Obviously some other people believe, as well.