Retail Tipsheet: Drizzle gets warm welcome in Lynden

While Drizzle is focused on selling olive oil, customers will get plenty of other choices at its new Lynden store.

The company opened its second store last week at the Waples Mercantile Building at 444 Front St. Co-owner Ross Driscoll said they wanted to show customers foods that work well with olive oil, so they added a café, with chef Andy Nguyen to create cheese and meat boards. Other items in the store include beer, wine, salts and spices.

“We want it to be a place where people can do a little shopping, then sit down and eat,” Driscoll said.

The first week of business was strong, with Driscoll hearing many stories from new customers about the history of the building, which has been refurbished after a fire in 2008. He appreciated the welcome and help from the community, with customers bringing cookies to their opening. He also noted the folks at Lynden Paint & Flooring were his guardian angels as they scrambled to get open before Christmas.

Driscoll said they are working on ways to bring some of the new things in Lynden to the original Fairhaven store, including some of the food for events and parties.

The owners of the Waples Mercantile Building remain busy getting other tenants in place. Co-owner Teri Treat said they are taking reservations for the Inn at Lynden, with the first day for guests scheduled for Monday, Dec. 28. They will also be turning over the spaces for Avenue Bread, Overflow Taps and Bellingham Baby Co. on Dec. 28. Those three businesses are expected to open in early 2016.

Store hours at the Drizzle’s Lynden are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.

ARTIFACTS OPENS IN LIGHTCATCHER

Jeff Wicklund wanted to get back into the local wine business and he may have found a good match with Artifacts Wine Bar.

Wicklund operates the wine bar, which recently opened in Whatcom Museum’s Lightcatcher building, with its entrance at 202 Grand Ave. Along with wine in bottles and on tap, Artifacts also offers beer, Hammerhead Coffee and a light lunch menu that includes cornmeal waffles, soups and sandwiches.

Wicklund has a strong background in the wine business, including formerly operating Purple Smiles Wines in Fairhaven. He plans to use that experience of organizing wine events to attract more customers to the area.

Being in a relatively small space, the plan is to make use of the courtyard for some larger events when the weather improves. They are working to improve the courtyard, putting in comfortable seating. Wicklund is now in the same neighborhood as his son, Brandon, who operates The Real McCoy bar at 114 Prospect St.

A wall of wine with a library ladder is one of the features inside Artifacts, with lighting and other interior touches that give it the look of a cozy wine bar. Along with events and museumgoers, Wicklund said they hope to attract workers in the neighborhood for business lunches. It also has a wine club for folks to join.

“It really comes down to experiences,” he said. “That’s what people want, and that was our thinking when putting this together.”

Artifacts is open from 10 a.m. into the evening Monday through Saturday, noon to five Sunday, and is also operated by Jim McClure and Ellen Sheen. For more details, go to the company’s Facebook page or artifactswinebar.com.

TD CURRAN TO BECOME CITYMAC

The Apple computer store TD Curran is changing its name to CityMac after purchasing the company, which has four stores on the East Coast.

Owner Troy Curran said he decided to go with the CityMac name as his company continues to enter new markets. He is considering Southern California for possible further expansion.

“With the TD Curran name, we spent a lot of time explaining what we do,” Curran said, adding that having Mac in the CityMac name makes it clearer.

Along with the name change, customers of the Bellingham store at 2551 Roeder Ave. will see increased product selection. Being a larger company, Curran said they now have access to used Apple products. Otherwise, the Bellingham store will remain the same.

“The Bellingham store is our strongest store,” Curran said, adding that customers appreciate the ample parking, along with the products and customer service.

Along with Bellingham, CityMac has stores in Burlington, Kirkland, Issaquah and Portland on the West Coast. On the East Coast, three of the stores are in North Carolina and one is in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Company details are at CityMac.com.

OTHER TIDBITS

For last-minute Christmas shoppers, Kohl’s is in the midst of being open 170 straight hours, until 6 p.m. Christmas Eve. The marathon shopping event started at 7 a.m. Thursday, Dec. 17. ... A state liquor license application was submitted for a beer/wine specialty shop at Point Roberts Marina, 713 Simundson Drive. The applicants are Pu Miao and Yihong Chen. ... The Bellingham Costco building has a sale offer that is pending, according to listing company Leibsohn & Co. The sale price for the building is $7 million, with the caveat that equipment and gas tanks would be removed. No word on who the potential buyer might be. Costco is preparing to build a new store on West Bakerview Road near Interstate 5. ... The Quiznos sandwich shop at 1873 Main St. in Ferndale has closed. According to its Facebook page, the last day was the end of November. ... Ferndale Fitnesss Center at 5519 Hovander Road announced on its Facebook page that its last day of operation was Thursday, Dec. 17.

Name of Bellingham Baby Co. was corrected on Monday, Dec. 21.

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 5:12 AM with the headline "Retail Tipsheet: Drizzle gets warm welcome in Lynden."