The ghost of Best Buy is being exorcised in Hazel Dell to make room for a locally owned craft store.
Craft Warehouse, set to open this summer at 9307 N.E. Fifth Ave. in the Hazel Dell Town Center, is a full-line craft store with several locations, including one on Mill Plain Boulevard.
“Vancouver’s a real successful market for us, and our current store on Mill Plain doesn’t adequately service the west side of the county and areas north,” said Rob Williams, one of the owners of the Camas-based company.
The Hazel Dell store will be the company’s ninth, adding to locations from Salem, Ore., to Wenatchee to Meridian, Idaho.
“We’re a small, family-run company, so we’re able to zig and zag with the market and get into the hot new trends, things like coloring books — that’s the hottest new trend bringing people into craft stores who might not normally,” Williams said.
The Hazel Dell location is looking to be open by late July and is now taking job applications online and at the Mill Plain store. In the meantime, workers are removing the signature Best Buy yellow tag and slanted blue storefront.
“The front facade and branding is getting replaced as we speak,” Williams said. “It’s going to be a more consistent look with the rest of the shopping center.”
The Hazel Dell Best Buy closed in 2008 as a new location opened in Portland’s (sales-tax-free) Jantzen Beach. It has been vacant ever since, but Williams hinted that more good news could be on the way for the area.
“It’s an exciting time for that shopping center.”
