Business Births, May 2009

 

The Glow Nightclub

Owner: Pete Wasley

Address: 202 E. Holly St.

Phone: (360) 734-3305

Square footage: 4,500

Opening Date: Feb. 10, 2009

photo by Jesse Amorratanasuchd

Pete Wasley, owner of The Glow Nightclub and Bob’s Burgers & Brew on Holly Street, stands behind the main bar on the first floor of the club. Since opening in February, business has surpassed his expectations.

 

Pete Wasley, owner of Bob’s Burgers & Brew in the Gateway Building on Holly St., was working late one evening in August 2008, before he sat down to talk with his landlord, Ron Woo, over some frozen yogurt. The conversation was about the potential of the 4,500 square foot space above Bob’s Burgers.

“The first time I walked through the space it looked like a nightclub,” Wasley said. “The atmosphere was so conducive. If you come by on a Friday night and look up, especially with all the glass, the place just glows.”

After long preparations, Wasley opened The Glow Nightclub Feb. 10 and said the club has been a breathe of fresh air to the Bellingham night life. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are the club’s busiest nights and Wasley said it has been a success. Every Thursday, The Glow flies a Las Vegas disc jockey to the club to spin his mix of music.

“There has been nothing new in Bellingham for a while,” Wasley said. “The existing businesses have been here for a long time. Our space lends itself to a metropolitan feel — it’s really a new concept.”

Wasley said he wanted to make sure his restaurant was running smoothly before taking on any new projects, but he has always been interested in the idea of running a nightclub. He was confident of a big response from Western’s student body and was happy to find the whole county responded positively to the new establishment.

“I wanted to build a space that would be classy but not pretentious,” Wasley said.

The entrance of the club opens to a winding bar to the left and a large, speaker-filled dance floor to the right. Black marble and sleek steel decorate the interior. Luminescent lights drilled into the marble countertops add a glowing effect when the club is dark. A stairway in the middle of the room leads up to a second floor lined with plush black leather couches and large windows with a view, over downtown, into Bellingham Bay.

The club plays a blend of music from the 1980s and ‘90s, as well as hip-hop and top-40 hits. As The Glow continues to grow, Wasley said he hopes to come up with concepts to attract crowds on off nights but is happy with the response the club has received so far.

 

 

Dog On Fire, Computer Service Specialist

Owner: Justin Vail

Address: 1001 Larrabee Ave.

Phone: (360) 202-5560

Opening date: March 1, 2009

Square footage: 500

Web site: www.dog-on-fire.com

photo by Jesse Amorratanasuchad

Justin Vail opened Dog On Fire Computer Service Specialist on March 1 after getting laid off when Circuit City closed in February.

 

Justin Vail had been working at Circuit City as a computer technician manager for two years before leaving the company at the end of February. Vail, 26, turned misfortune into opportunity and has applied his expertise to his own computer troubleshooting business, Dog On Fire, located in Fairhaven. The name of the business was inspired by Vail’s days at Circuit City’s computer repair, titled Firedog.

“It only took me about a week to decide that I wanted to do something like this,” Vail said. “I floated the idea around a lot of different people and they all thought it would work out really well, even with the economy being the way it is.”

Vail began handing out business cards and informing people about his new service during his last shifts at Circuit City. Much of Vail’s business has been through word-of-mouth, but he said he tries to advertise locally as much as possible.

Vail has had an interest in computers for years. School was his main resource to learn more about them. Birchwood Elementary, where Vail attended grade school, was one of the first schools in the area to get computers.

“I was the first one to design a Web page early on in grade school,” Vail said. “Ever since an early age I’ve been going strong.”

Dog On Fire provides comprehensive computer help, from a simple diagnostic to complete repair from a debilitating virus. Vail also provides computer hardware repair and guarantees a 24- to 48-hour turnaround time. He said much of his work is doing free diagnostics, but virus removals and simple troubleshooting have also kept him busy.

“Computers are continuously being upgraded,” Vail said. “Hardware and software is being written everyday that’s getting better and better. I think people are more apt to repair than to replace, so that’s a positive for me.”

 

 

Kuru Kuru Sushi

Owners: Sam and Judy Min

Address: 11 Bellwether Way, Suite 11

Phone: (360) 392-8224

Square footage: 2,000

photo by Jesse Amorratanasuchad

Sam Min, owner of Kuru Kuru Sushi across from the Bellwether Hotel, prepares sushi dishes to be put on the restaurant’s conveyor belt.

 

Sushi is a meal that calls for an acquired taste. Even Judy Min, owner of recently opened Kuru Kuru Sushi, says she does not eat raw fish.

Sam Min, Judy’s husband and co-owner of Kuru Kuru, is the sushi lover and this led to the couple’s decision to open a restaurant in Bellingham, Judy Min said.

Although Bellingham has a large number of Japanese restaurants in the area, there are none that serve dishes from a conveyor belt, and that is what makes the Min’s restaurant unique.

“You can just come in and grab [your food] right away,” Judy Min said. “Price-wise it’s very inexpensive.”

While many sushi dishes are made with raw fish, Judy Min said there is something on the menu for everyone. Half of the approximately 50 dishes served contain uncooked fish, which means people who have never tried sushi can ease their way into the more exotic rolls, which include cooked eel, baked scallops, crab meat and raw red and white tuna.

“People do say it’s fun to watch and grab what you want,” Judy Min said. “We have had a pretty good reaction.”

The couple, married 12 years, have lived in Bellingham for the past nine and have driven down to Bellevue in order to eat sushi from a conveyor belt.

Prior to opening Kuru Kuru, Sam Min worked at The Loft, a Japanese restaurant located in Delft Square in Lynden, for six months. On June 9, 2008, The Loft, along with 11 other businesses around Delft Square, were burnt down by a fire, which left Sam without work.

Now, Sam and Judy Min work as part of the Kuru Kuru staff. Sam works behind the conveyor belt, preparing sushi, while Judy is a hostess and server.

“We are really enjoying the customers — we like to see them happy,” Sam Min said. “We have an open kitchen, so people see how we’re preparing the meal. They enjoy watching the food come to them.”

Kuru Kuru is located at the end of Bellwether Way, across the street from the Bellwether Hotel along Bellingham’s waterfront.

— Jesse Amorratansuchad

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