This new Bellingham restaurant will be vegan, gluten-free and have a non-alcoholic bar
Here’s a roundup of recent retail activity around Whatcom County:
▪ A new restaurant is coming to the Herald Building in downtown Bellingham.
Kyla Graham and Xander Terrell of SconeGrown have signed a lease for the first floor space between Cosmos Bistro and the Fringe clothing store. It will be called Quantum Leaf and the plan is to have it open sometime this spring, Terrell said in an email.
Quantum Leaf will be a gluten-free, vegan restaurant open for dinner to start. It’ll also have a nonalcoholic bar with fun elixirs and virgin cocktails, Terrell said.
The opening of Quantum Leaf comes about a year after they opened the SconeGrown bakery in the Granary Building. Before the Whatcom deep freeze, SconeGrown’s sales had been increasing each week. While operating SconeGrown, the owners heard from customers about the desire for gluten-free and vegan food in a restaurant setting.
“We really think this project could be a cool addition to the downtown Bellingham restaurant scene,” Terrell said.
Details and updates about the restaurant can be found on the Quantum Leaf Instagram page.
▪ January is a time some local retailers take a break, so here are a few I spotted from social media posts:
The downtown Bellingham bakery Saltadena will be closed through Jan. 25. The wine shop Seifert & Jones will be closed through Jan. 10. A reminder as well that the Edaleen Dairy ice cream store in Fairhaven will be closed until March.
▪ Deals Only, a liquidator store at 2331 James St., closed at the end of December after more than 20 years in business. The building, which has more than 13,300 square feet of retail space, is available for lease through Saratoga Commercial Real Estate.
▪ The surge in local COVID-19 cases put a damper on organized New Year’s Eve parties around town, including the postponement of annual shindigs at The Shakedown and the Wild Buffalo. According to Facebook posts, The Shakedown will attempt to hold the event with its New Year’s Eve musical lineup again in February, while the Wild Buffalo is aiming to do its event on Friday, Feb. 4.
▪ It appears plans for a new bar in the former Starbucks spot in downtown Bellingham are moving forward. A liquor license application was submitted for the space at 132 E. Holly St., at the Railroad Avenue intersection. The proposed name is Matthew’s and the applicants are Matthew and Courtney Twining.
▪ While the snow and freezing temperatures around Whatcom County have been a challenge for those trying to get around, one fun mode of transportation has been very popular. Yeager’s Sporting Goods reported on social media on Thursday, Dec. 30, that it sold more than 300 sleds in a two-day period.
▪ A new electronics repair shop opened Dec. 18 at 155 Telegraph Road, near Denny’s restaurant.
Asurion Tech Repair and Solutions offers fixes for most consumer electronics, according to a news release from the company. Those services include smartphones, computers, game consoles, smart speakers and drones. The company has more than 650 stores across the U.S.
“Technology is made to have a longer life span now and we’re committed to extending that for our customers through repair,” said Damon Madison, Asurion district manager in the news release. “At uBreakiFix (the company’s former name), we provide a cost-effective alternative to buying new, and we look forward to offering that option to the Bellingham community.”
This story was originally published January 2, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
