The lights are off. The electronic reader board is dead. The parking lot is empty. Greenfresh Market is closed.
But only temporarily, says Fred Coutts, CEO of the Rainier Avenue North grocery store that specializes in natural and organic food.
As the sandwich board outside the grocery store reads: “TEMPORARILY CLOSED. SEE YOU SOON.”
I attended the eighth annual Piazza auction and fundraiser two weeks ago. A gala event, with a fun theme – a “tropical shipwreck” party. Island music was performed by Biff Moss, a regular entertainer at Bahama Breeze, and Moss, whose parents are Piazza volunteers, also served as auctioneer. There was a pretty full house at the Spirit of Washington Events Center – not bad in a so-so economic climate and businesses donated oodles of great auction items.
Duc Tran has lived in the United States only 30 years, but he’s already built an Asian empire. Chairman and CEO of the Viet-Wah Group, Tran, 55, runs three Asian food markets, each called Viet-Wah. Two are in Seattle and one in the Renton Highlands. He operates a wholesale business that ships Asian food across the country. And he has started a couple restaurants, including the newly opened Tea Palace, behind Renton’s Viet-Wah in the Greater Hilands Shopping Center on Northeast Sunset Boulevard.
AAA Washington is kicking off its new “Soap for Hope” donation drive to collect toiletry items and distribute them to persons in need via local shelters, food banks and other charitable organizations.
The fourth annual Master Builder Care Foundation’s “Painting A Better Tomorrow” event helped put a fresh face on nine shelters that help the homeless and others in need in King and Pierce counties, including Vision House in the Renton Highlands.
Valley Radiologists, a leading area medical practice specializing in diagnostic and interventional radiology services, will open the Vanishing Veins Northwest Center in Renton on Monday to provide alternatives to major surgery for patients with varicose veins, spider veins and related conditions.
It honestly seems like just a few weeks ago that I put away my Christmas decorations; but here we go again, ready for another holiday season! I am like a kid in a candy store when it comes to the holidays; I love everything about them – the food, the parties and the presents! Especially buying presents! Although people are pinching their pennies these days, if you are in the market for some jewels for your best girl or guy, there is a place in Renton that you should shop – and that is Garland Jewelers.
Three Renton businesses finished first and seven others finished in the top five in their categories in Evening Magazine’s The Best of Western Washington.
Two Renton companies, JayMarc Development and The Mosaic Co., have been named two of the “Top 100 Fastest Growing Private Companies in Washington” by the Puget Sound Business Journal.
Big Mac has risen from the ashes of a storm-related fire last December that destroyed the McDonald’s restaurant on Rainier Avenue.
Although the restaurant opened for business on Oct. 21, dignitaries, including state Sen. Margarita Prentice, and well-wishers gathered Wednesday for a grand opening. The roughly 50 in attendance received tours of what’s touted as one of McDonald’s new state-of-the-art restaurants. Of course, there were samples.
I recently had the opportunity to sit down and chat with Terry Higashiyama, community services administrator for the City of Renton, and she told me about a program that the city runs that was new to me. I thought if I hadn’t heard about it, some of you might not have. It’s the Housing Repair Assistance Program (HRAP), which has been in existence since 1978.
An interactive golf retailer – Golf Galaxy – gets into the swing of things with its grand opening Nov. 14 at The Landing.
The store is the first Golf Galaxy in Washington state.
Regal Cinemas The Landing Stadium 14 opens Friday. To celebrate, the new movie theater is holding four days of ticket, popcorn and soft drink deals.
With all the talk about the economy recently, the plunging stock market and soaring gas and food prices, it is hard NOT to be a little bit nervous about the future these days. We’ve even heard the words “next Great Depression” more than once in the past several weeks. My parents were children of that era and it was an awfully scary time according to them — food and gasoline were often hard to come by. My uncle in his later years refused to eat jelly from that “darn Mrs. Smuckers” (I cleaned it up a bit), because he ate so much of it during the Depression. Being the eternal optimist, I am a believer that it won’t get to that anytime soon. But, unfortunately, there are a lot of Renton citizens among us whose cupboards ARE bare right now and you can help them.
It has been 26 years, but Annie Boyington still remembers her first truffle. It was 1982, and she was at Sal Anthony’s Restaurant just north of New York City’s Greenwich Village. The truffle came with an espresso after the Italian meal.
I’ve been doing a lot of shopping and dining out recently, and the good news is almost all of my dollars have been spent in Renton. This is a good thing because I always shop Renton first. The choices at The Landing are expanding almost every time I drive there. I bought a wedding gift at Target, a household item at Lowe’s, pet food at PetSmart and computer supplies at Staples – without even having to move my car! If there are parties in your future — or entertaining over the holidays – check out the new Everything Party! It has an array of items, including tropical, Halloween costumes, and any theme idea you can possibly imagine. A huge addition to Renton!
Renton Farmers Market ended its season Sept. 16. But several vendors continued hawking their wares at an After Market Market the following Tuesday — not at The Piazza, but at Greenfresh Market.
Sabrina Mirante, who began working at the Renton Chamber of Commerce five years ago as a part-time administrative assistant, has been promoted to administrative vice president.
The Renton Chamber of Commerce will host the fourth annual Business Expo Oct. 11 in conjunction with the Fall Harvest Festival at the Spirit of Washington Event Center and Piazza Park downtown.
It’s hard to believe that Renton schools are already back in session. I was one of those very weird kids…
