Panera Bread is making plans for Bellingham. Here are details on where it will go
A popular national soup and sandwich shop appears to be preparing to enter the Bellingham market.
City building permit applications were submitted earlier this week to put in a Panera Bread cafe in Sunset Square. According to the permit application, it is slated to go into the old Skagit Bank building at 1295 E. Sunset Drive. The standalone building does have a drive-through area, something that other Panera cafes have employed at other locations.
The Bellingham Herald has reached out to Panera Bread for comment.
Panera has more than 2,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada, including 31 in Washington state, according to its website. The closest cafe to Bellingham is in Burlington.
Along with its soup and sandwiches, menu items include pasta, salad, specialty drinks, baked goods and flatbread pizza. The cafe also has a breakfast menu that’s available before 10:30 a.m.
According to The Bellingham Herald archives, Panera has had an interest in this market for quite some time, with a spokesperson confirming that the company was looking in the area in 2013.
This story was originally published June 22, 2022 at 2:38 PM.
