Downtown Bellingham New Businesses: A 2026 Storefront Guide

"Lights on and doors open isn't enough anymore." That is the advice the Downtown Bellingham Partnership gives business owners, as Cascadia Daily News reported in September. It also describes what is happening on Railroad Avenue, State Street and West Champion Street this fall.

You know the closures if you walk these blocks: Avellino, Rock and Rye, Temple Bar, Welcome Road, Red Star, Mount Bakery's downtown counter. Look at what has been announced for those addresses and a pattern shows. The newcomers are mostly late-night cafés, lounges, boba and boutiques, and their pitch is time spent inside rather than one meal served fast.

Five licenses for every closure, and a 15% gap

The Downtown Bellingham Partnership tracks business licenses for its quarterly report to the Washington Main Street program. That tracking shows about five new licenses issued downtown for every closure, according to Cascadia Daily News.

Set that against the other number from the same reporting. A city report released this spring found almost 15% of ground-level commercial space in Bellingham's walkable center sitting vacant. New businesses are opening, the core still has a lot of empty ground-floor space, and a beloved closure stands out because it lands on a street where a vacant window is already common.

Jovan Hall's company, Daylight Properties, owns and manages 19 mixed-use buildings downtown, including the old Avellino and Rock and Rye spaces. She told Cascadia Daily News the streets feel busier than they have in years. She also said both of those spaces turned around quickly once the tenants left.

The city also added a role this year to speed that turnover up. Darby Galligan, a former city planner, stepped in as Bellingham's urban transformation strategist in September. She is the single point of contact for anyone looking to open a business or invest in commercial property downtown, and she described the job to Cascadia Daily News as "telephone operator, matchmaker and problem solver."

The ledger, address by address

State Street lost the sit-down dinners first

The closures that hit hardest were the full-service restaurants. Rock and Rye opened on State Street 12 years ago and announced in June that it would close this fall, citing the economy. The Downtown Bellingham Partnership's Jenny Hagemann told Cascadia Daily News that its closing carried an "emotional gravity" that shaped the whole downtown conversation.

The same reporting says full-service restaurants are having the hardest time, as costs rise and diners eat out less. Owners also point to fewer Canadian visitors. In a Border Policy Research Institute survey conducted between March and May and cited in that article, 91% of respondents in Whatcom County's food and beverage industry said the drop in Canadian visitors was hurting them.

Farther up State Street, the Red Star change is smaller than it looks. Red Star Taco Bar closed Sept. 25, and Sweet Bay Cafe stays at 1327 N. State St., per the Bellingham Herald.

Back near Rock and Rye, the Herald Building is getting a new retail tenant. Lost Gentlemen's Club plans to open at 1153 N. State St. in November. WhatNow describes it as a modern gift boutique selling grooming products, barware, paper goods and cigars, with no exact date or hours announced yet.

Railroad Avenue swapped coffee counters for hangouts

On Railroad Avenue the change is easier to see. Avellino served coffee at 1329 Railroad Ave. for about 20 years before it closed suddenly on July 11. A boba tea shop owner signed a lease for the space in mid-September.

Down the street, the old Woods Coffee at 1135 Railroad Ave. shows the "linger" model most clearly. Café Hazeltree and Emmaquatics Aquarium & Lounge share the room on separate schedules, as the Bellingham Herald reported. Café Hazeltree's planned hours are 2 p.m. to midnight, Wednesday through Sunday. Emmaquatics is scheduled to open 2 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, and 12:30 to 7 p.m. on Saturday. The aquariums stay free to view outside Emmaquatics' hours, and when the coffee bar is closed the room still works as a lounge. A coffee shop that serves until midnight is a different kind of business from the morning counter it replaced.

Over on Cornwall Avenue, Pure Bliss Desserts opened Flourish, an event space at 1422 Cornwall Ave. next to its existing shop, according to Cascadia Daily News. Hagemann's description of what is working downtown fits it well: value-added experiences, makers markets and spaces that serve as a third place.

West Champion Street is the open question

The 300 block of West Champion Street has the most unsettled storefronts downtown. Welcome Road Wine & Coffee closed July 18 when its lease ended, after five years at 300 W. Champion St. Jackalope Coffee & Lounge was announced for Unit 300 and was expected to open by the end of September. A separate application for a beer-and-wine restaurant license under the name "Gather" at the same address had not been approved as of Sept. 3, the Herald reported. Even the paperwork for this space includes "Lounge" and "Gather."

Next door, Temple Bar's own website says it has been permanently closed since Oct. 4, after a last service on Oct. 3. Owner Vincent Lalonde has been trying to sell the 26-year-old bar's name and assets rather than retire them. He told Cascadia Daily News he thinks a buyer should carry on the brand instead of starting something new.

He is also concentrating on the Mount Bakery Cafe in Fairhaven. The bakery's site now lists the downtown location as closed, so your Mount Bakery breakfast is now on the south side of town.

Lalonde also described to the paper how his block has changed. When he took over Mount Bakery in 2007, it was dead. Wider sidewalks and the cultural arts district made it a busy strip of venues and full restaurants.

One more move is coming to West Holly. Madrona Wear, the outdoor-gear repair, alteration and consignment shop, announced a move from 770 E. Holly St. to adjoining spaces at 310 and 312 W. Holly St. No opening date has been given.

The holiday calendar is these tenants' first real test

A place built for lingering needs people walking past in the evening. The downtown calendar through December puts crowds on these exact blocks, so you can check the new tenants for yourself. The dates below are what the Downtown Bellingham Partnership and the Bellingham Farmers Market have scheduled:

• First Fridays, Nov. 6 and Dec. 4, 6 to 10 p.m. These are the first evening art walks of the season, and they fit Café Hazeltree's late hours.
• Holiday Wine Walk, Friday, Nov. 13. About 20 shops host pop-up tastings of regional wine.
• Shine Bright window displays, Thanksgiving weekend onward. Voting runs Nov. 21 through Dec. 18, a good excuse to look in every storefront, including the new ones.
• Shop Small Saturday, Nov. 28. This is likely the first holiday shopping day for any boutique that opens on State Street in November.
• Tree lighting, Dec. 5, Merrytime Heritage Park. Activities start at 5 p.m., and the tree is lit at 6 p.m.
• Downtown–Fairhaven Lighted Bike Parade, Dec. 12. Riders gather at Depot Market Square, 1100 Railroad Ave., at 4:45 p.m. and head for the South Bay Trail at 5 p.m.
• Bellingham Farmers Market, every Saturday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It runs at Depot Market Square through the third week of December, steps from the Railroad Avenue storefronts.

The Farmers Market and the bike parade both start at Depot Market Square. Walk north from there and you pass the old Avellino and the new aquarium café within a few blocks, before you reach State Street.

The changing storefronts are one of the things that give a downtown Bellingham address its value right now. If you own a home within walking distance of these blocks and want to know how today's market sees it, Michelle Harrington can give you a clear, local read. Get Your Instant Home Valuation, and we can talk about what a changing downtown means for your street.