Here’s what shoppers and diners will find as Barkley Village businesses reopen in Phase 2
This is one in a series looking at Whatcom County business districts as they reopen in Phase 2 of the new coronavirus Safe Start program.
People heading back to eat and drink or to shop at their favorite spots in Barkley Village are going to find a quieter place. Some businesses have opened their doors while others say they’re waiting until later.
Visitors to the 250-acre urban village in Bellingham — with its mix of homes, retail and office space — can expect to wait a little longer between seatings at their favorite restaurants, to face limits on how many can be in a clothing store, and to read plenty of signs about keeping 6 feet away from others.
It’s all part of efforts to resume life and business in the age of COVID-19.
“As we navigate this time of transition, we continue to communicate with our Barkley neighbors and surrounding community. In the village, we are starting to see more folks returning to their places of work and more businesses open in safe and creative ways,” said Michael Bayless, chief executive officer for Talbot Services/Barkley Company.
“It has been encouraging to see our neighbors around the village work together to support one another,” Bayless said.
Whatcom County has been in Phase 2 since June 5.
Here’s a look at some of the spots that have reopened, the ones that haven’t, and what owners and managers are saying.
Scotty Browns
“The future of dining has changed forever. It really has,” said Allyson Farrar, business manager for Scotty Browns, a little more than two weeks after the restaurant once again opened its doors to diners.
Farrar said its regulars enthusiastically welcomed back Scotty Browns on June 5, as they returned to their favorite neighborhood watering hole.
“They miss the socializing aspect. I think that people really missed seeing our staff,” she said.
In Phase 2, dine-in service is allowed in restaurants at 50% capacity for social distancing, and parties are limited to a maximum of five in a group.
Scotty Browns closed its Barkley space, Barkley Boulevard and Newmarket Street, on March 16. It offered takeout for about two weeks before opening to diners in June.
Customers are returning to a changed experience because of health and safety protocols for COVID-19.
At Scotty Browns, there’s now plexiglas between tables in the lounge, which is its most popular seating area; hand sanitizer at the host stand; staff wearing masks; seating at every other table in the dining room; single-use menus; seating that’s spaced farther apart on the patio; and no reservations, for the time being.
Farrar said there are no reservations because the restaurant has plenty of seating, can’t accept large parties, and wants to keep its phone lines open for take-out orders, which have been popular. Diners who can’t be seated immediately will be asked to wait in their car or can walk around until they are called on their cell phone. That’s to prevent people from congregating as they wait.
Soon, the restaurant hopes to offer customers a way to pay their tab using their cell phone, by scanning a QR code.
“That way there is no interaction between the guests and the servers with their credit cards or cash,” Farrar said.
She added: “More than anything, I just want people to feel like they can come in and have the same socializing experience that they’re used to while also doing our best to respectfully abide by the safety requirements of the phases that we’re in.”
Scotty Browns also has reopened its space at Bellingham International Airport.
Statement Apparel
On the front door of this women’s clothing store at 2945 Newmarket St., Suite 107, is a sign that asks people to not come in if they have a fever or cough and reminds them that the retailer can allow a maximum of five customers in at a time under Phase 2.
Statement Apparel reopened June 5. It closed March 19, seven days after owner DeeDee Bell had knee-replacement surgery.
“It was pretty nerve-wracking,” Bell said. “What am I going to do with a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of seasonal merchandise?”
To help the store get through the closure mandated by the state’s stay-home order, she sold gift cards, offered private appointments to clients, and applied for and received a Paycheck Protection Program loan to cover employees through the end of June.
Bell said she tried to sell her clothes online but doing so wasn’t practical.
As the store reopened to walk-in customers, she has trimmed staff and the hours that Statement Apparel is open. She’s still offering private service so people who remain worried about venturing out can have that time when the store is closed.
“As much as people want to get out, they’re still afraid of COVID,” Bell said.
Business is down about 25% to date and foot traffic has dropped drastically in the afternoons, she said, in part because many the people who work in offices at Barkley are still working from home.
‘The village is quiet. We have no foot traffic,” Bell said.
As for what people can expect at Statement Apparel, she said that they’re taking all the necessary precautions. All surfaces are cleaned, there’s hand sanitizer, physical distancing is maintained, and customers are offered a mask if they don’t have one.
“We care about them. We don’t want anybody to get sick either,” Bell said. “Everyone has been respectful and doing the right thing. It’s been going great.”
And while it’s been challenging and she wishes business would return a little quicker, she praised the community for being “truly awesome” for its support of small businesses.
Her customers have said to her, “We don’t want you going anywhere. We want you here.”
That means the world to her, Bell said.
Zen Sushi
This spot near the Regal movie theater is known for its large Buddha statue, which customers can now see as dine-in service resumed June 5.
Diners are slowly coming back in, but many still prefer to order take-out, according to Plutthiphong Perkins, manager at Zen Sushi and Bar at 3001 Cinema Place.
Its bar remains closed, because they can’t reopen in Phase 2.
Diners can expect more space between themselves and others because only every other table is opened, hand sanitizer, ordering from a single-use menu or smartphone, maybe having to wait a little as each booth is sanitized between each seating, to be offered a mask, and a briefing about health practices.
Perkins said Zen Sushi wants to assure its customers that it is following health and safety requirements.
“We need to do all this to protect them, as well as for us, too,” he said.
And amid the changes brought by the new coronavirus, there’s still this: “The quality is still there. The deliciousness is still there,” Perkins said.
barre3
Barre3 pivoted quickly to virtual workouts on Zoom after closing March 16, according to Caitlin Walker, owner of the workout studio at 2210 Rimland Drive, Suite 105.
And that remains its focus, even though small-group fitness are OK in Phase 2, which allows, in part, a maximum of five people per session.
“I just feel that’s too stringent of a rule,” Walker said, adding that it would be impossible to be profitable under those conditions.
She had hoped to open the studio in Phase 3, but confirmed COVID-19 cases have been surging in Whatcom County. As a result, the county is missing key benchmarks that would have allowed it to apply for Phase 3 as early as Friday, June 26.
For now, barre3 and its instructors will continue to teach online — live-streaming 13 classes a week and offering recorded sessions.
Walker said she feels like her business is in limbo in terms of having a reopening date for her studio.
But, perhaps later this summer, barre3 could start offering classes outside on the Barkley Village Green, which would offer a lot more space to work with and perhaps make people more comfortable.
Meanwhile, she’s looking forward to a nearby commercial building, now under construction at Woburn Street and Premier Way, being completed.
Barre3 will be one of the tenants in that building, and its space there would be nearly double the current studio’s square footage, which is about 2,100 square feet. Scotty Browns and Rider Culture, a cycling/spin studio, will be the other tenants.
That could give Walker more room to work with in a time of uncertainty.
“Who knows how long the stipulations and rules will be” as far as social distancing, she said.
And while she’s in limbo, she’s warmed by the support of barre3’s members.
“We’re keeping them going and they’re keeping us going,” Walker said, noting a silver lining of sorts from a client who gratefully said, “I hope you know how much this is getting me through my days.”
Regal movies
The movie-theater chain announced on its website that it planned to start reopening its sites on July 10 with new health and safety procedures, including health screening of employees and space between people watching movies.
The Barkley theater at 3005 Cinema Place was shut down in March as coronavirus restrictions took hold in Washington state.
Regal didn’t provide a date on its website for when its Barkley theater will reopen, but it did say that it was continuing to work closely with “relevant authorities.”
In Washington state, movie theaters can reopen with 50% capacity when a county reaches Phase 3 .
