Good afternoon, shoppers.

2008 was a busy year for retail and restaurants in the Yakima Valley. And with the blog launching in October, we got to follow some of these stories as they happened.

So as we end the year, it’s time for me to highlight my list of the top 10 interesting and notable retail and restaurant stories. This is a long list, so sit back, relax and recall those retail and restaurant memories.

The list, which is not in any particular order:

1. The year of the urban tasting rooms.

Why should the Lower Valley get all the wine drinking fun? This year we saw the arrival of several new tasting rooms within the Yakima urban area. 

The Tasting Room Yakima — Wines of Washington opened in the Upper Valley early in 2008. The winery cooperative is a sister site to its Seattle location near the Pike Place Market. The cooperative is home to Naches Heights Vineyards, Wilridge Winery and Harlequin Wine Cellars.

Plaza Socievole Winery opened in April at the former Dunbar Jewelers space on the ground floor of the Larson Building.

Gilbert Cellars opened its doors in July in the old Corday’s space on the corner of Front Street and Yakima Avenue.

Masset Downtown Cellars opened its doors in November 2007, but really had its first year in 2008.

These wineries, along with several existing ones, also formed a marketing alliance to encourage more wine tasters to stay in Yakima.

2. The Transformation of Pete’s. 

Pete Blue and Steve Pinza ended 2008 with the opening of the Second Street Grill. The partners decided to close the former nightclub at 28 N. Second St. in February 2008 to begin building the new restaurant and sports bar. Blue and Pinza said the business needed to take a different direction as loyal patrons grew older and began to have children.

3. From Costco to Cabela’s ???. 

After Costco moved to its new warehouse off Valley Mall Boulevard, there was great speculation about the future of its previous facility at 1600 E. Washington Blvd. At first it looked like the Yakima Valley would receive a Cabela’s, the outdoor sporting goods chain based in Sidney, Neb. But when the retailer announced that it would cut its expansion plans, Yakima wasn’t on the list of stores it was planning to open in 2008 or 2009.

In September, Fred Bruning, owner of the neighboring Valley Mall, announced that he had the property on contract and intended to complete his purchase by early 2009.  He said that he lined up several tenants including a sporting goods store and a department store for the property but wouldn’t give specifics.

4. Wal-Mart gets its building permit for a second store in Yakima.

A nearly six-year battle between two groups of West Valley residents and the discount chain ended in November, when the city of Yakima issued a building permit that would allow the retailer to move forward on the $14 million construction of a new 204,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter at 64th Avenue and Nob Hill Boulevard.

The Neighbors for Responsible Development and Concerned Citizens of Yakima spent years fighting against the project, arguing that building the store would destroy residential neighborhoods, create too much unwanted traffic and was not the kind of business that neighborhood needed.

5. Riverpointe Landing delayed

Months after initial speculation that the proposed $160 million retail development on 16th Avenue and U.S. Highway 12 was in trouble, developers of Riverpointe Landing announced in November that the project was on hold.

The developers said they initially had Home Depot as one of the anchor stores for the project but then the Atlanta-based home improvement chain decided to pull out of the project.

Jack Evans of First Western Properties of Tacoma said the developer, Northward Real Estate Group of Bellevue, Wash., still the shopping center project was still going to happen, but that the firm wanted to wait until the market improves.

6. The arrival of iPhone 3G

The release of the new version of Apple’s iPhone in July promoted another set of long lines at the two Yakima AT&T stores. The first customer in line at the AT&T store on 2401 S. First St. arrived at midnight on July 11. By the time the store opened at 8 a.m., there were 100 people in line.

But for some the wait was for naught. Mike Boone, a 20-year-old from Ellensburg arrived to the store at 6:30 a.m. only to hear that the person in front of him got the last iPhone.

But a shortage of iPhones was a minor problem compared to the number of technology glitches several users nationwide experienced with the new phone.  A problem with Apple’s servers forced several customers to active their phones at home by using the iTunes software on their computers. Many customers didn’t have much more success activating the phone at home.

7. Black Friday madness

People came out to several Yakima Valley retailers in pursuit of early morning sales the day after Thanksgiving. At Best Buy, I met the Mayo family, who spent nearly 22 hours in line to get their hands on, among other things, a Toshiba laptop for $379.99.

Given the national recession, shoppers were picker about their purchases this year. Best Buy manager Monte Neumeyer said shoppers focused on a couple of high ticket items such as televisions and video game systems. But overall, the Best Buy store in Yakima saw an increase from a year ago.

8. The arrival of Sonic and Panda Express

Yakima saw the arrival of two more fast-food chains with the opening of Sonic and Panda Express at the end of the year. Yakima Valley residents clearly love new brand-name chains. Since opening, both stores have seen pretty sizable crowds.

9. Yakima’s first Starbucks closes for good.

Starbucks was one of the early victims of the struggling economy as the chain reached saturation in several markets and people were tightening their budgets. In July, it announced plans to close 600 Starbucks stores nationwide.

In Yakima, the Starbucks store at 2203 S. First St. located next to Top Foods closed in September. That location, which opened in 1993, was the first in Yakima and one of the early stores for the Seattle-based chain.

10. The return of the Yakima-based microbrewery

It was a big blow to the community when Yakima Brewing and Malting Co. closed for good nearly three years ago. The brewery, founded by brewing legend Burt Grant, began to suffer under new owners.

Beer lovers Jeff Winn and Chris Swedin decided to take the plunge and open Yakima Craft Brewing Co. at 2920 River Road. The brewery was well received by local restaurants and retailers, an indication that Yakima, which provides 75 percent of the nation’s hops to American beer makers, was hankering for another hometown brewery.

So those are my picks. But perhaps you don’t agree with this list. Maybe you think that I left something out. I want to hear your thoughts on the list. Leave a comment or send an e-mail on your picks for the top retail and restaurant stories.

This will be the final entry for 2008. But as I mentioned before, there will still be Shop Talk reporter’s notebooks in the printed paper for the next few weeks I will also post occasional comments and links on my twitter feed during this brief blog hiatus.

So until 2009, happy shopping.

Got a comment, rant or news tip?: E-mail me at mhoang@yakimaherald.com or comment in the box below.
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