Volume 4 • Number 12
December 2001
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Cover Story Linda Bachmann has turned her popular gift emporium into a Christmas wonderland, with 13 decorated trees and a wealth of treasurers for the shopper. The Mount Vernon store is more than a gift shop. Bachmann has made it a cornerstone for the downtown business community. Janet O’Mara reports on this remarkable store and woman.
The Skagit retail community is wringing its hands this holiday season, concerned whether shoppers are going to spend like they have in years past, with the economy down, unemployment rate up and citizens’ mindset on war against terrorism. A survey of mall and business owners in the county, however, indicates that Christmas cheer also brings on an air of optimism when it counts. Heidi Thomas talked with them.
This area has a large share of bed and breakfasts, inns and guest houses, and no wonder, with all of the beautiful landscape and wildlife to show off. A large portion of the trade is, remarkably, local — as much as 60 percent from Seattle north, according to an innkeeper. One way this hospitality niche survives is through mutual cooperation.
It’s winter — ski and snowboard season — and you can’t wait to hit the slopes. How do you get your gear there? With a car rack. Where do you get one? At Rack Attack in West Mount Vernon. Same goes if you need to transport your bicycle, tools, camping gear — you name it. |
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