Bre Green is co-owner with husband Eric of the specialty décor, housewares, and furniture store Greenhouse in downtown Bellingham. The couple bought the store in 2017. Bre is the hands-on manager; Eric is a realtor. (Remarks have been edited.)
Q. How did you survive the pandemic?
By sacrifice and sheer will. We had so much on the line when the pandemic started with Greenhouse. I sacrificed time with my family and much more.
In early 2021, I realized I needed to envision a larger future. The store needed another income stream.
I had been staging homes for sale for my husband since early 2018. In August 2019, I was approached by HGTV to stage 10 homes for a pilot TV series in Snohomish. I then staged 13 more homes for Season 2, each of them unique styles and palettes.
After that, I had enough inventory and styles to deliver this service to Whatcom County. We now stage more than 350 homes each year, which has allowed us to maintain our store and employees downtown.
Q: What about vagrancy?
Downtown Bellingham is unique. Where else do you see these gorgeous, picturesque, historical buildings overlooking a bay with views of a mountain behind? I have spent hours of volunteer time to assist city leadership to bring it back to its potential.
Q. What about citizens who avoid downtown, due to fear of unpleasant encounters?
City leadership has made great progress in creating a safe downtown; come see for yourself. We live in a community where self-expression is invited, but public safety has been addressed on numerous levels.
Q: How will the increasing minimum wage affect Bellingham businesses?
While it is needed and deserved to try to meet high rent and home costs, it has put a catastrophic squeeze on small businesses unable to meet it and keep the same number of employees. I support increased wages; I just ask citizens who voted for it to see they need to put their money into local businesses, not Target or Amazon.
Q. What are downtown’s success stories?
Look at our restaurant and night life. The energy on a Friday night or Saturday night at 8 p.m. is undeniable. Restaurants are filled, with wait lists.
Q. Its biggest challenges?
Vacant office and retail space. We are missing that energy during the day. We need to bring retail back. If we get office space filled and lunch traffic back, we’ll see more success.
Q: What about downtown’s commercial business occupancy?
The downtown office vacancy rate is 8.2% compared to citywide vacancy rate of 4.1% and the retail vacancy rate downtown is 8.4%, compared to 3.1% citywide. This shows what the last five years have done to the confidence of consumers and business owners in downtown. I see improvements because I’m downtown daily, and I invite others to come back and experience it today.
Q: Why does downtown matter?
Downtown is the heartbeat and personality of the city. Whenever anyone visits someplace new, we go downtown. Much of what we say about any new city is our perception of their downtown.
