Dec. 29, 2008 at 6:44am

Upcoming Old Town Vacancies

Two Old Town Tacoma retailers are closing up shop in this charming corner of our city. Old Town Photo, as Morgan mentioned previously, will be moving off 30th and into the owner's home. Another that happened just as the holiday season was winding up is Barker Road. In their case the reason, according to the letter below and their website, is retirement.

So what will come of these spaces? Will each be co-opted former Old Town Italian restaurant by non-retail like law offices or and H&R Block? I fear that, even with a poor economy, rental prices will too high and only such businesses, rather than more local retail or a charming restaurant, will be able to afford to fill those spaces. Anyone else more optimistic? What would you like to see go in either of those spots?

comments [8]  |  posted under barker road, old town, old town photo, tacoma

Comments

by morgan on 12/29/2008 @ 11:06am	In addition to these, there are a bunch of offices on the corner of 30th & McCarver that have for rent signs in their windows. What is going on down there? I thought that was a hot area.
by tacoma1 on 12/29/2008 @ 12:22pm	Old town could really use a nice bakery. A boulangerie style french bakery with baguettes.
by jenyum on 12/29/2008 @ 12:35pm	I was thinking artisan bakery, too. It would be the perfect thing, to be able to stop in and grab a warm loaf of some specialty bread, then walk down to the beach. Sigh. Not that I can eat that stuff, anyway.
by jenyum on 12/29/2008 @ 1:11pm	I would love to see something like Arizmendi here. Anyone want to open a worker-owned cooperative bakery?
by morgan on 12/29/2008 @ 1:28pm	I would love to see a bakery in Old Town! Julie? A co-op bakery would be cool too. There's a co-op bike repair shop starting up on Hilltop. Co-ops are an old idea whose time seems to be right again. We could use more small business startups and co-ops could be a good way to diffuse risk.
by L.S.Erhardt on 12/29/2008 @ 10:11pm	Count me in on a co-op! I bake my own bread and rolls, and I'd be more than happy to get a good boulangerie in T-Town
by morgan on 12/29/2008 @ 11:16pm	Not knowing much about co-op structures, I've been doing some reading up and came across a few links: How to start: www.ncba.coop/abcoop_howto.cfm (nat'l co-op association)(bet you didn't know .coop was a domain extension!) Steps in forming: www.agecon.uga.edu/~gacoops/info5.htm Co-op 101 (pdf): www.cdi.coop/completestartuppack2008.pdf After reading these, I'm not sure that a co-op organizational form would serve any better than a for-profit LLC form. Although a co-op sounds more cool.
by fredo on 12/30/2008 @ 12:53pm	Old Town has a merchant's organization. What specific businesses are they seeking, and are there any specific businesses they don't want? I expect they don't want check cashing, tattoo, smoke shops, sex shops, head shops, 2nd hand clothing and any more lawyers/insurance/banks. But I could be wrong. The rents in that area are probably $2 NNN sq. ft. so that would rule out a lot of would-be entreprenuers.