Year 21 No. 4 $1
APRIL 2013
CREATIVE SEPARATION | PAGE 22
ART ADVOCATES SEE DEMAND FOR MORE GALLERY SPACES
VIRAL MONEY | Crowdfunding raises cash, and questions
RETAIL LOSS LEADS TO EARLY JUMP IN JOBLESS NUMBERS But state economists say year-over-year job estimates show some positive signs By Evan Marczynski evan@bbjtoday.com
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SEE STORY ON PAGE 6 | Christian Harkson of Disidual Clothing loads ink onto a screen in the screen-printing and apparel design company’s Bellingham facility. Disidual recently attempted to raise $25,000 for a new clothing line using the popular crowdfunding website Kickstarter. As more businesses use the digital money-raising strategy to finance expansions and new ventures, investment regulators might soon allow business owners to offer shares of their companies through crowdfunding portals. EVAN MARCZYNSKI PHOTO | THE BELLINGHAM BUSINESS JOURNAL
Bellis Fair to get first major remodel in decade By Evan Marczynski evan@bbjtoday.com
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Bellingham magnet for north-of-the-border retail traffic is receiving its first major makeover in ten years. Bellis Fair Mall’s last major upgrade in 2003 brought new lighting, paint, signage, and seating areas. But the current project is larger in scope, mall managers said. The renovation to the 773,000-square-foot shopping mall will include aesthetic
updates to its main entrances, new floor tile, new food-court amenities, including a fireplace with an attached video wall, as well as redesigned restrooms and an upgraded children’s play area. “We’re excited to share the news of our transformation at Bellis Fair. By the end of the year locals and tourists alike will see a warmer more inviting center, with colors and textures of the outdoors brought inside,”Janet Hendeson, the mall’s senior general manager, said in a press statement.
ith seasonal retail workers out of holiday jobs, initial estimates placed Whatcom County’s January unemployment rate at 8.6 percent, according the figures released by the Washington State Employment Security Department in early March. That rate jumped from a revised 7.1 percent estimate last December. But rises in jobless rates are common as a new year begins, said regional labor economist Anneliese Vance-Sherman. “I would attribute a lot of that to the usual dips associated with holiday hiring and retail,” VanceSherman said. While it was a significant spike from last December, January’s 8.6 percent jobless rate was only slightly above the 8.5 percent esti-
CONCEPTUAL ARTWORK COURTESY OF BELLIS FAIR MALL
Culp Construction Company, which has main offices in Utah and California, is the project’s contractor. Culp has completed several other projects for General Growth Properties Inc., the
owner and manager of Bellis Fair, according to the construction company’s website. The contractor is working with
JOBS | Page 9
MALL | Page 3
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