Kitsap Real Estate Blog

Port Orchard waterfront and marina

The much beloved Natural Health Food Store has moved to the Westbay Center in downtown Port Orchard. For the past 27 years owner Patricia Anderson has helped thousands of South Kitsap residents with education and products to improve their health through good eating habits. The new store location is 1341 Bay Street, Suite A and is open for business.

This applies to local retailers as well as national chain stores but the experienced local store owners know that the fact that they live in the community and have the opportunity to build social connections with their customers can give them a competitive advantage over the chains with their reliance on price. Ms. Anderson has a number of plans to add products and services to her store to deliver more value to her customers.

Nearly all retailers in Kitsap are suffering from a drop in sales. This is showing up as increased vacancies in the various Kitsap retail centers, although not yet at crisis levels for mall owners. As of the summer of 2007 retail vacancies were still below 7%. If consumer buying habits remain depressed we could see vacancies rise to double digits in retail for the first time in at least a decade.

With the addition of Natural Health Foods the Westbay Center in a counter trend to rising vacancies is able to offer a greater variety of goods and services through local vendors including Café LaGarmache’ Catering, Pedro’s Mexican Grocery and Restaurant, Help Line, a driving school, a tobacconist and the Hi Tide Tavern and Restaurant.