Business closures in Langley are putting a dent in the event spirit. A prominent craftsmanship gallery, a shop that sells soothe footwear and a restaurant are the latest victims of the slump hitting the nation and the South End. A longtime appendage of the Langley artistry scene announced it will detailed before the end of the year.
The Whidbey Art Gallery, hitherto known as the Artists’ Cooperative, will be closing on Dec. 28. The gallery, currently located at 117 Anthes Ave., has been a character of the Langley community for seventeen years.
"It has been so slow, we are just not making it," said artist Moe Jerome. "Our proprietor tried to help, but that didn’t work." The proprietor of the construction is townsperson businessman Paul Samuelson, who is also mayor of Langley. Jerome added that the gallery is a schlemihl of money-making circumstances and the combined monthly $2,400 fee and sky wasn’t being recovered through the white sale of art.
"We didn’t have any option but to close," he said. "We’re successful to lodge a year off, then aid how the thriftiness is doing," he said. "Sort of an artistic sabbatical.
" Artist Jandellyn Ward said the gallery is just one of many businesses hurting on South Whidbey. "Basically, the compactness and scarcity of relations has entranced its toll," she said. The artists hankering to have casual talent shows during the coming year in syndicate with the Northwest Art Alliance of Seattle, and will remain to show their output on their Web site, www.whidbeyartists.com. Other businesses in the downtown quintessence are planning to padlock as well.
North Star Trading, located on First Street behind diocese hall, is shutting its doors next month, but proprietress Liz VanDyke will at to cook up her signature leather products in Clinton, selling them online at www.sheepskingoods.com. Maureen Cooke said she is shutting down her Fish Bowl restaurant on Second Street by Dec. 31. "It’s OK, but I’ve been bleeding for two years and now I’m hemorrhaging," she said.
"Our subject is based on tourists as opposed to getting close by support." She said that this week she went on a noetic sightsee of shops throughout the borough and realized that not a unique trader ever came in to lunch at her restaurant. "My biggest subsidize came from the artists’ coop and now they’re closing, too," she said. Cooke, who opened in 2001, has her erection for rummage sale or hire and hopes to windfall someone who can utilize her kitchen.
"Maybe it will be an opening for unexplored blood to get something going," she said. Her biggest defeat came when the Port of South Whidbey’s application for boodle to rebuild the marina went down to vanquishment at the polls in November. "When the levy discontinue failed, I was crushed," she recalled. "That marina will be Langley and South Whidbey’s economizing enrich when it inexorably gets built.
I have a moll with a trip sailing-boat who is yearning to turn a interrupt here, even route a passenger service to Everett and Seattle. The likely is huge." News of the closures follows the up to date word that Linds Drug Store on First Street may be closing its doors.
Owner Ron Lind said he’s evaluating the place and will deliver a definitive declaration after the holidays. Langley Chamber of Commerce chief executive the man Sherry Mays said all is not bleak, however. "Note that the deadpan buildings on First Street are foolish because they aren’t done with the hold on the building," she said. "Apparently there are restored businesses going into those spots as soon as construction is done.
" Mays said there are other astute spots. "Knitty Purls is up 100 percent over concluding year and the Inn at Langley’s charge is up 30 percent. Not everybody is hurting.
The Clyde? Doing great," she added. Mays also eminent some downtown businesses had been weathering solvent storms for 30 years, and they be entitled to a gold unmatched for perseverance. "We have to recall that our community is repose during the shoulder age anyway," Mays said. "This is a out of it time of the year.
" Mayor Samuelson takes the hard-nosed see that while some businesses remain strong, others are struggling. "Sometimes, a vocation holder must realize the business plan isn’t working and the latest recession acts as an cry point," he said. "My employment has been and will continue to work onerous with everyone to find solutions; these are my friends and we’re not wealthy to let them down." Samuelson set up a body on economic development when he took chore and hired consultant Mike Hearl to actively induct home businesses to either relocate or expand their operations in Langley. "This is our stake to composition together for a prosperous future," he said.
Prospective profession owners are invited to counterfoil out the Langley chamber’s Web instal for more information at www.visitlangley.com. South Whidbey Record Sports, Port of S. Whidbey Jeff VanDerford can be reached at or (360) 221-5300.
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