The Sequim Lavender Festival is coming July 15th through July 17th, 2011.  This year we will have two Lavender Festivals.  There is the Sequim Lavender Grower’s Association, which sponsors the Sequim Lavender Festival, and there is a new association called The Sequim Lavender Farmer’s Association, which sponsors the Sequim Lavender Farmer’s Faire.

Sequim Lavender

Sequim Lavender Capital of North America

Sequim is the Lavender Capital of North America, and the festival brings thousands from outside the area, including people who fly in from all over the country.  Lavender is a serious business, and Lavender is a fun business, too.

The Sequim Lavender Festival will include Lavender Central, a downtown Sequim street fair and food court.  They also have a free self-guided tour of seven lavender farms.  The Sequim Lavender Farm Faire will have a bus tour of six more lavender farms.  They will also have an event called “Lavender in the Park,” a street fair at Carrie Blake Park.

Here is a video from last year’s Festival downtown food court.

The Sequim Lavender Farmer’s Faire is sponsored by Cedarbrook Lavender & Herb Farm, Olympic Lavender Farm, Port Williams Lavender, Purple Haze Lavender, Sunshine Herb & Lavender Farm and Washington Lavender.

The Sequim Lavender Festival is sponsored by Blackberry Forest, Martha Lane Lavender, Oliver’s Lavender Farm, Nelson’s Duck Pond & Lavender Farm, Lost Mountain Lavender, Peninsula Nurseries and The Lavender Connection.

We’re expecting beautiful sunny weather in the Sequim Rain Shadow, so come and see our Sequim Lavender.

Possibly Related Posts:

• The Real Estate Market and Economy Prediction 2012
• Retired and Planning to Start a Business in Sequim
• Logging on the Olympic Peninsula
• Wisdom from an 84-Year Old Homeowner
• Life Happens – A Tribute to Dakota Leach and Family

Sequim Dress for Less is under construction right now.  The national recession has not hit Sequim as it has most areas of the country.  We have had many big box and discount stores move into Sequim in the past decade, and we all know those big corporations do extensive demographic studies before they commit to an area.

Sequim Dress for Less

Sequim Dress for Less and Other Stores

This location has been the hotbed of big box activity, which is the west end of Sequim.  While the east end of Sequim recently added a beautiful new hotel, The Holiday Inn, the west end of Sequim over the past decade has added Costco, Home Depot, Petco, Starbucks, Discount Tire, WalMart, Office Depot, International House of Pancackes (IHOP), Applebees, Big 5 Sporting Goods, Schucks Auto Parts, Jack-in-the-Box, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Arbys, and now Sequim Ross Dress for Less.

Sequim Dress for Less Not a Guy Thing

Admittedly the Sequim Dress for Less is not a guy thing.  This store is a girl store, no doubt about that.  I have a 14 year old daughter, and I know she is looking forward to shopping at Ross.  It is known as a discount clothing store.

Sequim has had other stores before this decade, and Safeway and QFC have been here for as long as I can remember.  Penney’s has a small store as does Sears.  Of course, some of our finest restaurants are family owned and are not chains.  And we have one of the best organic health food stores in the region, Sunny Farms.

Sequim residents are fortunate that Sequim has such a stable economy.  This translates for homeowners and retirees in the real estate market, since it has given us more of a solid base and more stable real estate prices than many areas of the country.  This new construction of the Sequim Dress for Less is another example of the strength of our local economy.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Sequim Lavender Festival and Sequim Lavender Farmer’s Faire
• Sunny Farms in Sequim
• Sequim Businesses Surviving and Thriving
• Sequim Shopping: Where’s the Sequim Mall?
• Sequim Shopping and Big Box Stores

Sunny Farms in Sequim is unquestionably Sequim’s most popular organic health food store.  Its appeal has become a part of local lore.  It’s a well managed family owned country store that has become a hit beyond anything paid advertising could ever do.  Customers learn about Sunny Farms by word of mouth, but once you start shopping there, you won’t want to go back to the corporate grocery stores.  There is a marked difference in the quality of the food and the taste of the food.

Sunny Farms in Sequim

Sunny Farms in Sequim is an Organic Country Store

Sequim’s Sunny Farms is a welcome change from the processed foods sold in the large national grocery stores.  What a delight to be able buy organic vegetables, fruits, breads and dairy products.  There was a time when I did all my shopping at Safeway, QFC, or Costco.  I still do shop at those stores for some items, and all the employees at those stores are wonderful, but once I began to buy my vegetables and fruits at Sunny Farms in Sequim, I can’t go back to processed foods grown in mass quantities that end up with so much less flavor, not to mention less nutrition (and packed full of chemical names I cannot pronounce).

Organic Vegetables at Sunny Farms in Sequim

Many of us have become more aware of the importance of a healthy diet and regular exercise.  Heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and a long list of health issues has plagued Americans, in no small part because of a lack of good nutrition and a proper diet.  It was an adjustment in my diet, but I am enjoying the fresh organic vegetables I buy at Sunny Farms in Sequim, and oddly enough, I now even enjoy the adventure of shopping for and selecting my vegetables and fruits.  Warning:  This store is usually very busy, the isles are narrow, and your cart will feel like a car on the I-5 corridor at rush hour.

A Blender and a Juice Extractor

I use a Blendtec blender to make healthy smoothies consisting of fruits and a little protein and psyllium, and I use an Omega 8005 Juice Extractor to blend the freshest organic vegetables.  If quality of life and feeling good is important to you, you might want to visit Sunny Farms in Sequim.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Sequim Lavender Festival and Sequim Lavender Farmer’s Faire
• Sequim Dress for Less Under Construction
• Sequim Businesses Surviving and Thriving
• Sequim Shopping: Where’s the Sequim Mall?
• Sequim Shopping and Big Box Stores

Sequim businesses are surviving this recession, and more than that, Sequim is thriving.  It’s not front page news anymore that many businesses around the country are struggling, going out of business, filing for bankruptcy protection, and trying to hang on until the Obama economic plan brings us all back to the surface and steady growth once again.  Whether Obamanomics succeeds or fails, private businesses must creatively find ways to connect with customers and manage expenses until better days are here.  For small business owners, there is no pot of gold at the troughs of government programs.

Rock Plaza is a great example of a businessman who believes in Sequim’s economic future enough to invest by purchasing prime real estate and building the Rock Plaza mall.  While the mall is not yet fully leased, several businesses are thriving at the mall even in this economy.  Unfortunately, there is one casualty at the mall, and that is the Sauer Kraut Restaurant.  They closed their doors last month.  For many of us that is a disappointment.  The Sauer Kraut had a great ambiance and great food.  The owners are wonderful people.  I had lunch with a very successful professional Chef who had a full career in California.  He understands what it takes to run a restaurant successfully, and what standard expense and income ratios must be to run a restaurant.  His conclusion was that the overhead was way too much for a Sequim restaurant.

Hardy’s Market in Sequim is an example of another success story.  Hardy’s is a classy little Deli and Espresso store with a very comfortable lounge area with tables, sofas, and cable T.V.  They serve the best sandwiches in town (according to this author’s taste buds), and the service is reminiscent of small town America, the kind of service we used to get when we were kids (a long time ago).

Sequim has a stable economy, in large part due to the large retirement population and the medical health industry that the retirement population supports.  Doctors, clinics, and various medical and dental services love the retirees, because that means a steady cash flow from the insurance companies.

This also means that clinics and hospitals build beautiful and expensive medical facilities on prime real estate in Sequim.  Fifth Avenue is the hot street for medical facilities in Sequim.  In the photo above, the Jamestown Medical Clinic is under construction.  That’s a good thing for the Sequim economy, especially in the dead of winter.

Sequim is a great place to live, a great place to retire, and the economy and real estate market are not only surviving but thriving.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Sequim Lavender Festival and Sequim Lavender Farmer’s Faire
• Sequim Dress for Less Under Construction
• Sunny Farms in Sequim
• Sequim Shopping: Where’s the Sequim Mall?
• Sequim Shopping and Big Box Stores

You’re thinking about moving to Sequim, but you’re wondering where is the Sequim Mall?  You  may know  that Sequim is on many lists of “Best Places to Retire” and has been published in many magazines for over a decade as a place with a perfect retirement lifestyle, but you are wondering where the big stores are, the specialty stores and the mall.

Sequim already has many specialty stores downtown for clothing, antiques, gifts, books, restaurants, and art, and we also have big box stores like Home Depot, Costco, Pet Smart, Walmart, Office Depot, and of course chains like Starbucks.

But if you want to go to a large mall and have fun shopping for a couple of hours, the Silverdale Mall is only an hour’s drive from Sequim.  Pictured here is one of my favorites, Barnes and Noble’s Bookstore in Silverdale, which was incredibly busy on Black Friday.

Silverdale is a nice Saturday or Sunday afternoon drive, a two hour round trip, and it’s a much larger community than Sequim or Port Angeles with just about every store you can think of.  One restaurant that Silverdale has that Sequim does not is the Olive Garden, a great place for lunch between shopping.  Beyond Silverday only one more hour is Seattle.

Sequim shopping is not a problem, especially if you want to reach outside of Sequim to the Silverdale Mall.  It’s actually a very pleasant drive.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Sequim Lavender Festival and Sequim Lavender Farmer’s Faire
• Sequim Dress for Less Under Construction
• Sunny Farms in Sequim
• Sequim Businesses Surviving and Thriving
• Sequim Shopping and Big Box Stores

Sequim is a small rural town, and a major retirement area.   As with many small towns in America, we keep having a discussion on the pros and cons of the BIG BOX STORES moving here.   You know the arguments by now.   “Small businesses can’t compete.   We don’t want Walmart in our town.”

Well, Sequim has become the destination for most of the big box stores in just the last three years or so, and guess what?   They are still coming and building, even now in this slow economy.

Of course Walmart built a big store, but let’s be honest.   Walmart provides a great service with a larger inventory than local stores could manage, and Walmart brings a lot of money into the community primarily through all the locals they employ.

We’ve had a Staples store for years, but Office Depot moved in recently.   We’ll see how they do.   Frankly, they don’t seem very busy.   Hardly anyone every there, but these big box stores are typically prepared to suffer losing money for a few years before the demographics improve enough for them to survive.   That’s largely what all this is about for these big box stores–building in an area with great projects for future demographics, and Sequim has the demographics.

And Costco, which has been here for about a decade now, is very popular for the bulk values they give all the locals.   If locals didn’t like Costco for moving into town, why is the store packed seven days a week?   We love this store.

Home Depot is a great store, and well managed, but it also employs a lot of locals, and all of this brings more money into the community.   And don’t think the city of Sequim isn’t absolutely ecstatic about these big box stores buying commercial property here and bringing their construction and businesses here.   This amounts to a lot of local tax dollars, which also benefits all of us who live here.

Pet Depot is a hot store here, because we have so many pet owners here, and this store has got to be one of the best managed and organized Pet Depots in the entire chain.   Their fish department is the best I’ve ever seen for the organization and symmetry of the fish tank displays.

Of course, Sequim has a Starbucks!   In this state, I don’t think you are officially a city if you don’t have a Starbucks.   The Sequim store is apparently doing great.   They sure are busy all the time.   Unfortunately, Starbucks opened a store in Port Angeles a little over a year ago, and they recently had to close.   Not enough business.   That’s interesting, because the official population of Sequim is only 4,000, and Port Angeles claims 25,000.

Under construction right now are two more big box stores, Discount Tires and Schuck’s Auto Parts.   What do these big franchises know about Sequim?   They have spent fortunes on demographic studies to pinpoint the best and most promising places to build.   That’s Sequim.

Courtesy of SequimRealEstateNews.com.

Possibly Related Posts:

• Sequim Lavender Festival and Sequim Lavender Farmer’s Faire
• Sequim Dress for Less Under Construction
• Sunny Farms in Sequim
• Sequim Businesses Surviving and Thriving
• Sequim Shopping: Where’s the Sequim Mall?