Downtown businesses make the best of small spaces

MOSES LAKE — There’s a lot happening in the middle of Moses Lake, and it’s happening in smaller and smaller spaces.

“Even with all the business closures that are happening around town, businesses that are still open are doing more initiatives to attract more people to their stores,” said Mallory Miller, director of the Downtown Moses Lake Association,  which promotes the business community downtown. “We've got Artgarden, she's doing more classes. We've got Hello Nature which is bringing in things constantly. (Owner Magen Evans) is doing little sidewalk sales. So just bringing more people into downtown.”

Moses Lake’s downtown business core has had its share of ups and downs over the years, as businesses come and go. Many of the businesses that were pillars of the downtown core 30 and more years ago — Pinky’s House of Fashion, Berry’s Department Store, Furniture West — are now the stuff of nostalgia. But in their place have come smaller concerns, many of them doubling and tripling up in the available spaces.

“(The owner of) O2 Yoga Studio … implements a Small Business Saturday every once in a while for people that are creating their own products,” Miller said. “People that do things from home can come in and have a table at her studio, because her studio is more of a boutique.”

“Settler’s (Natural Market) has done a great job,” said Denise Kinder, president of the DMLA, at an interview in April.  “They've expanded a lot of their offerings. They have a daily soup, and they've got fresh sandwiches.”

The space at Division Street and East Third Avenue was once occupied by one business: JCPenney. Today it’s the Smith-Martin building, which holds 14 businesses, according to its website, and has space for still more.

“There’s a sugaring (hair removal) shop,” Miller said. “And there’s Back on the Rack Consignment … There’s a conference room downstairs that people can rent out. There’s a massage business … Habitat for Humanity, there’s a barber shop, Northwest Medical Group, there’s a nail salon, there’s a mortgage company, and there’s Mason’s (Coffee).”

“The Smith-Martin Building is great,” Kinder said. “There's a lot of stuff in there. “

The Drip Art gallery currently shares space with Dolz Coffee and Moses Lake Distillery, although the latter will be moving in November to another space, Miller said.

“Prime real estate in downtown Moses Lake is expensive,” she said. “And so what's a better way of getting more businesses downtown?”

Joel Martin may be reached via email at jmartin@columbiabasinherald.com.

    A sign outside the Smith-Martin Building points to the Sandbox Bookstore. The space, which once housed a single store, is now home to 14 businesses, with more space available.