These restaurants and bakeries are coming to Whatcom County
Here’s a roundup of recent retail activity around Whatcom County:
▪ A liquor license application was submitted for a new restaurant in Maple Falls. The proposed name on the application is Michoacana 3Mendos Tacos and the applicants are Guadalupe and Jorg Virrueta. The address for the proposed restaurant is 7471 Mount Baker Highway, near Joe’s Fine Coffee.
▪ A building permit application was submitted for a new bakery. The proposed name is Raven Bakery and plans have it going into 205 Prospect St., near Bellingham Cider Co.
▪ Wake ‘N Bakery announced on social media that it is back open for the summer season after taking a month to make improvements to the property. According to its Facebook page, the Glacier bakery is open every day at 7 a.m., closing at 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, staying open until 5 p.m. on the weekend.
▪ Goji Bistro, which is on Cordata Parkway near Whatcom Community College, announced on Facebook that it is now open for full dine-in services. The restaurant had been operating with limited dine-in, with no table service this spring.
▪ Even with border and pandemic restrictions in place, the holiday shopping season was a record-breaker in Whatcom County.
The latest data from the Washington State Department of Revenue estimated overall Whatcom retail sales at $1.48 billion during the fourth quarter of 2021, making it the most spent in one quarter for this area and a 10.4% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2020.
Plenty of categories posted year-over-year increases, but one of the biggest came from restaurants. Whatcom County restaurants generated $99 million in fourth-quarter sales, up 36% compared to the fourth quarter of 2020, when pandemic restrictions were much tighter. Restaurant sales in 2021 matched the 2019 fourth-quarter sales totals when no restrictions were in place.
Furniture, electronics, clothing and big box stores posted increases compared to the previous year.
This story was originally published May 29, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
