New Woods Coffee on Lakeway

            The Woods Coffee is building a new location on Lakeway Drive, and the store is expected to be opening towards the end of January, according to Wes Herman, owner of The Woods Coffee. 

            The store will be on the corner of Lakeway Drive and King Street, just across from Fred Meyer.  The building now under construction used to house the Lychee Buffet before it closed in December of 2011.

            “That is a super high traffic area, and it is underserved in coffee,” said Herman of his new store’s construction on Lakeway.  “We felt that there was great opportunity to capitalize on a high-impact location.”

            Three other coffee shops currently serve the shopping center in Puget on the corner of Lakeway Drive and Lincoln Street: Crusin’ Coffee, Starbucks, and Zoom Zoom Espresso.  Crusin’ Coffee is located just off of Lakeway within the Lakeway Shopping Center; Starbucks is located within the Fred Meyer; and Zoom Zoom Espresso sits just off Lincoln, across the street from the Lincoln Creek Park ‘N Ride, a bit further down the road.

            “We do something different than most drive-through coffee shops,” said Herman.  “We stand on our own with that.  We have remarkable interiors, we serve people efficiently, and we have a staff that is second to none.”

             While Crusin’ Coffee offers a drive-through but no sit-down area, Starbucks offers seats within the Fred Meyer but has no drive-through.  Zoom Zoom Espresso offers both in-shop seating and a drive-through, but its off-Lakeway location means that it does not receive the same amount of heavy traffic.  However, the new Woods Coffee on Lakeway will be a full sit-down location with drive-through, according to Herman.      

            “I think everybody in coffee is competition, just like any other business in their market sector,” Herman said.  “But yes, absolutely, there is competition from everybody that does coffee, and this is a highly caffeinated community.”

            Crusin’ Coffee was unable to respond.

            Customers of the Starbucks within Fred Meyer had various reactions to the new Woods Coffee.

            “It’s cool that there’s going to be another coffee shop,” said one girl.  “I live over near the Sehome Haggen, and the Woods in there isn’t open later at night.  We have Starbucks, too, but it’s nice to see another coffee place going in around here.”

            One student said he liked studying in coffee stores and that the Starbucks within Fred Meyer didn’t offer the same atmosphere as separate coffee shops.

            Another woman felt that an additional coffee stop on Lakeway was unnecessary.  “Well, I come here (Starbucks in Fred Meyer) when I do my shopping, but I don’t think it’s (another coffee place) really needed.”

            The Starbucks in Fred Meyer is open from 7 am until 9 pm, and Crusin’ Coffee’s hours are from 4:30 am until 10 pm Sunday through Thursday and from 4:30 am until midnight on Friday and Saturday.  The hours for the new Woods Coffee have yet to be determined.

            The Lychee Buffet’s old building which will be featuring the new Woods Coffee in January is a much larger venue than Woods needs for operation.

            “That location is twice as big as what we need, so we will be leasing out the west side of that building,” said Herman.  “We’re currently looking for the right tenant that could be our neighbor.”

            Building in a developing high-traffic location, Herman hopes to find a business that will complement the mood of his own store and that of the area.

            “I don’t know about anyone in particular, but I think we would like to see a fast, casual restaurant,” said Herman.  “Something along those lines would be the right fit, as far as we are concerned.” 

            The Woods Coffee has been in operation for 11 years in the Bellingham/Ferndale/Lynden area, and they are currently building their 13^th and 14^th stores in Barkley and Puget.

            “We live in the Northwest,” said one humorous customer.  “No matter what store, people will always buy coffee.”   

PNA Meeting Considers Trail Improvement Possibilities

             On Thursday, Nov. 15^th, the Puget Neighborhood Association held a general membership meeting to discuss neighborhood trails as well as up and coming department projects with James King, the director of Parks and Recreation.

“Trails are used by many, many people in our neighborhood,” said Mary Chaney, president of the Puget Neighborhood Association.  “I thought the meeting went really well.  People came because they were interested in parks and trails in particular.”  

            King began the meeting with a presentation on Parks and Recreation projects then opened the floor to facilitate discussion of neighborhood concerns.  During the meeting, many of the 26 neighbors present asked questions (both of King and each other), discussed which trails are and aren’t marked, and even drew unmarked, poorly maintained, or proposed trails on one of the large neighborhood base maps printed out.

“It [the meeting] helped the neighbors understand what the department is doing, and it helped me understand what projects they thought were important,” King said. 

Three primary areas of concern emerged from the neighbors’ discussion: trail marking, trail upkeep, and trail development.

Trail Marking

            “We in the neighborhood would like to have greater clarity as to where the trails are,” Chaney said just before the neighborhood meeting.  “Most park trails that are clearly used a lot are identified by those wooden posts with a couple of golden yellow bands around them, but we don’t have them everywhere.  There are lots of trails that have no markings at all.”

            Throughout the meeting, neighbors were able to discuss which trails had markers, and which were in need of an identifier.

            “From Racine, there’s a trail right-of-way that borders on private property,” said one of Puget’s neighbors.  She discussed the small easement winding from Racine’s upper block down to Edwards Court, and how the easement was hard to identify from Racine due to its lack of marking.  From Racine, the easement appears to be part of an empty lot that is private property – and while the private lot is clearly marked, the small right-of-way is not. 

            Another neighbor explained that a few of the easements on Puget Hill looked more like yards than trails because they were not clearly marked.         

“They [Puget neighbors] want more trail signs,” said King when asked about the neighborhood’s primary concerns.  “We [the department] are looking to see if signs can be installed.” 

One man asked King if it would be possible to put signs up on trails that were already marked on Puget’s base map without having to investigate who owned the trail, and King said it would be possible.

“I am happy to go back and talk to staff and look at these things,” King said.  “I would encourage working with us and getting a clearing, and if it’s as simple as putting in the little posts that shows it’s a trail, it’s not that big of a deal.” 

Chaney plans on following up with King concerning the trails come the new year.

“I plan to wait until January as James King suggested when the budget process is over,” Chaney said.  “Then I will contact Mr. King and hopefully develop a modest plan to move forward on getting markers for more of our trails.” 

Trail Upkeep

            A second concern shared by Puget neighbors was the accessibility of many neighborhood trails.

            “A lot of the easements aren’t very passable,” one neighbor said.  “There’s one coming south from Racine and that goes to Edwards Court.  As you’re going down to Edwards Court, it’s real steep, it’s very narrow, it’s real slick, it’s leaf-covered, and it’s supposed to be a pathway.  When I was coming down there, I was scared for my life.”

            Another man said the right-of-way connecting 45^th (just off Consolidation) and Nevada Street was “downhill, pretty steep, and pretty muddy.”     

             Chaney asked if it would be possible to use some of the neighborhood budget and some of the neighborhood’s “people power” to help mark and clear the trails, and King said he would be happy to take Puget up on that offer.

            “Staff will be looking at the locations that were identified on the map for possible signage and trail improvements,” King said. 

            “If some one or some of us will lead the work, I think people will help,” said Chaney.  “It is the leadership that is always hard to get going.” 

Trail Development

            The neighbors discussed the possibility of a trail linking Puget Street with the Lincoln Street, either at the Lakeway shopping center or at the Lincoln Creek Park ‘N Ride.

            “Connecting Consolidation right on down to Lincoln Street… You got the park and ride lot and it would make a logical way for people to come off of Lincoln Street, up the hill, and connect on that Samish trail,” one neighbor said.

            Another neighbor discussed the convenience of a cross-connection between Puget and Lincoln.  Due to the lack of east-west connections in Puget, neighbors currently have to walk down the entire hill to Lakeway Drive if they wish to reach Lincoln Street or the Lakeway shopping center. 

            Safety of walkers also played into the discussion of this particular cross-connection.

            “Puget is awful,” said Chaney.  “It’s our secondary arterial, and it’s asphalt, fog line, then kkkkrrrrrk [sudden noise signaling the ditch bordering the road].”  The sidewalk ends about a quarter of a way up this street, after which the fog line borders ditch, forcing pedestrians to walk in the road itself. 

            “We are looking into that option,” King said when asked about the likelihood of the cross-connector linking upper Puget with Lincoln Street.  “We will continue to work with them [the Puget neighbors].”

“I think all of us in attendance learned more,” said Mary Chaney, president of the Puget Neighborhood Association.  “The neighbors learned more about the trails and what might be possible to do.  And James King learned about some of our trails that he did not know about and that Puget is highly interested in trails.”