{"id":17769,"date":"2022-04-20T01:31:02","date_gmt":"2022-04-20T01:31:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/?p=17769"},"modified":"2022-07-29T19:32:52","modified_gmt":"2022-07-29T19:32:52","slug":"the-barmuda-triangle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/20\/the-barmuda-triangle\/","title":{"rendered":"The Barmuda Triangle"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bellevue\u2019s Main Street <\/i><\/span>core sees restaurants leaving the table<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

By Eric Valentine<\/em><\/p>\n

Back in the day, when a few watering holes simultaneously thrived on Bellevue\u2019s Main Street, folks who were giving the phrase \u201cmountain drunk\u201d some anecdotal legitimacy might describe that section of the street between Oak and Elm as \u201cthe Barmuda triangle.\u201d It was a humorous comparison of a patron\u2019s loss of good measure to the Bermuda Triangle\u2014the section of the Atlantic Ocean off North America in which dozens of ships and airplanes are said to have mysteriously disappeared.<\/p>\n

Right now, an afternoon stroll through Bellevue\u2019s commercial sliver of the Valley\u2019s only real thoroughfare might elicit that moniker, too, as more lease signage adorns the area than people looking to party or eat and drink. And like any good skeptic or member of the free market faithful should do, people are asking this sobering question: Is Bellevue becoming a ghost town? <\/span><\/p>\n

The anecdotal evidence\u2014collected amid a local housing crisis as brutal as any around the country and historic, across-the-board inflation that experts say has and has not been caused by a pandemic and the most violent war in oil-producing Eastern Europe since World War II\u2014is this:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 7 Fuego: Closing May 22. Building for lease.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Oak Street Deli: Restaurant closed. Building still being used for catering and other food service projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Silver Dollar Saloon: Open. Building for lease or sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Mahoney\u2019s Bar & Grill: Open. Building for sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Mama Inez: Open.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2022 Lucy\u2019s Breakfast: Open.<\/span><\/p>\n

And since the bullet points above are just anecdotal (and not even comprehensive), just south of Bellevue, in Carey, is some metaphorical evidence. On Monday, the Loading Chute building, which used to house a former restaurant and bar, burned to the ground. As of press deadline Tuesday, an investigation relying on things other than anecdote and metaphor was being conducted by the Idaho State Fire Marshal\u2019s Office. <\/span><\/p>\n

A Perfect Storm vs. A Fire Sale<\/span><\/p>\n

For the Valley\u2019s chamber of commerce executive director, Mike McKenna, it\u2019s a perfect storm, not a food and beverage firesale; and the weather\u2019s not as bad as it feels.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is basically a labor issue. Our housing crisis fueled out the working class,\u201d McKenna said. \u201cIf you take an inventory of that section of Main Street from the beginning of the year to now, Bellevue\u2019s only down one (eatery).\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Depending on how far up and down the road you go and what timeframe is used, McKenna\u2019s math is right. And a business for sale is far different than a business that\u2019s closed down for good. In one instance, an economically thriving company is more valuable if purchased by a new owner, rather than that new owner investing in and developing something from scratch. Mahoney\u2019s and the Silver Dollar could become someone else\u2019s one day. 7 Fuego is done and gone. <\/span><\/p>\n

But McKenna certainly acknowledges the optics are bad. And, if a restaurant can\u2019t fully staff up to be open at the right time for the optimal amount of time, it likely won\u2019t be able to cover its rent and other operating expenses.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a drastic change to the culture of Main Street, it\u2019s a trend we\u2019ve been seeing,\u201d observed McKenna, who noted that just a few years ago someone earning $40,000 a year could afford to live in the Valley. \u201cOur cities and county leaders are really doing everything they can and everything right, but I do think they got off to a late start. You can\u2019t stop an avalanche mid-flow. This stuff is cyclical,\u201d and we all need to get better at seeing the cycles come before they go.<\/span><\/p>\n

EDITOR’S NOTE<\/strong><\/p>\n

FRET NOT, FOODIES \u2026 Geordy Murphy of Cypress Hospitality Group<\/a> knows success in the hospitality industry. He talks about how things are looking up for restaurants sooner than later in this True 7 Life podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bellevue\u2019s Main Street core sees restaurants leaving the table By Eric Valentine Back in the day, when a few watering holes simultaneously thrived on Bellevue\u2019s Main Street, folks who were giving the phrase \u201cmountain drunk\u201d some anecdotal legitimacy might describe that section of the street between Oak and Elm as \u201cthe Barmuda triangle.\u201d It was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":17775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","_pvb_checkbox_block_on_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,72,8,18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bellevue","8":"category-community","9":"category-food","10":"category-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17769"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17769\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18419,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17769\/revisions\/18419"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/woodriverweekly.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}