OPB finds rosier view on repeat visit to 2 Hood businesses

Check out what our public radio network discovered on a return visit with Melissa Tokstad and Kathy Watson.

The Bad News, and Far BETTER Good News

I hear the whining all the time: If the damned media would just shut up about the economy, everything would be just fine. Check out the excellent piece in the Sunday NY Times, by its public editor, noting that despite numerous media warnings since 2000, we still drove ourselves into the ditch — banks printing bad paper, real-estate besotted buyers gorging on junk purchasing, and the government looking the other way.

So, the Columbia Gorge Hotel closes, and Oregon Business magazine sends a reporter to ask, “Is it true the Hood River economy is in free fall?” Well, no. We set her straight. Just to share, and thanks to Jamel Badrieh at the Hood River County Chamber of Commerce for sending this along, the Chamber compiled a list of business closures, and business startups, in recent memory. It’s worth noting that, along with all the slower activity, there’s plenty of optimism out there.

Submitted to Oregon Business Magazine
February 6, 2009

Closed Businesses within Past Year

• Columbia Gorge Hotel (temporarily closed)
• Isthmus Windsurf Shop (This company set up shop for a summer and realized there is too much competition for windsurf shops in Hood River. They are still in business online and have a store in Wisconsin.)
• Abruzzo Italian Restaurant (Editor’s note: A new restaurant, Sophie’s, has leased this space and opened.)
• Panzanella Bakery & Deli
• Hood River Chrysler Dodge-Jeep/Hood River Ford/Mercury (Space taken over by an automotive repair business.)
• Cliff Smith Motors – dealership for GM. (The current owner is now operating a used car business at the same site.)
• Red Fish / Blue Fish (children’s clothing retail; this space was taken over by Enchanted Alpaca retail shop about 8 weeks ago

New Businesses Within Past Year

• Kaze Japanese Restaurant
• The Enchanted Alpaca (retail alpaca wool clothing/coats/accessories)
• Café at Good News Gardening
• Dirty Fingers Bike Repair
• Bambino’s Child Care
• Center Pointe Bank
• The Candy Shoppe
• WAAAM (Western Antique Aeroplane & Automobile Museum)
• White Buffalo Wines
• Dog River Cycles
• Naked Winery
• Benjamin & Benjamin Art Gallery
• Ixtapa Mexican Restaurant
• Springhouse Cellars
• AVI Trucking
• Flying Jenny B&B
• Nora’s Table (opened in 2007 as Nora’s Fish House, but recently tweaked its name and menu)
• Columbia Gorge Community College
• Norman K. Vance Art Gallery
• Sparkling Creations – Jewelry (retail)
• Double Mountain Brewery (open for a little over a year, but thriving)
• Eclipse, a music education center
• Fifth Element Salon
• Jacob Williams Winery and Tasting Room
• Golf, Etc. (retail)
• Outdoor Toy Store (A new snowmobile sales/repair shop opened in the Hood River Heights area about a month ago.)
• Columbia Cliff Villas (18 luxury cliff-side villas and 10 carriage house units adjacent to the Columbia Gorge Hotel for lease as vacation rentals and units also for sale.)
• Cutie-Pie Consignment (children’s clothing retail)
• Farm Stand in the Gorge (New fruit stand and organic market to open in the Hood River Heights next week. The market will sell gourmet cheeses, quality organic meat, etc.)
• Columbia Gorge Title

If this list has somehow missed YOUR business, or if you know of others, let us know. We’ll keep setting the record straight.