Sixth and Pacific: A tale of three businesses

A planned retail complex at Sixth Street and Pacific Avenue has been touted as a great piece to add to the puzzle of revitalizing downtown Bremerton.

For three businesses occupying that space, it meant losing their storefronts and looking elsewhere.

So far, it appears to be a blessing in disguise for Pied Piper’s Emporium, which sells an eclectic mix of clothing, handmade jewelry, posters and tobacco pipes.

“It’s awesome,” owner Alyssa Miller said of her new digs at 816 Pacific Ave. “There’s way more sunlight. I’m totally loving it.”

Miller said business is staying stable and plenty of new browsers have stopped in wondering about the “new” store. There is also about twice the square footage in the new building, Miller said.

“We’re thinking about getting longboards in here,” she said.

Miller has been a skateboarder for years and enjoys being able to sell the kinds of things she and her friends enjoy.

“Like the clothes that we like that we can’t find in Silverdale,” she said.

In six weeks time, she got her new space painted and it took four days to move everything a block down the street.

Another aspect of her new location Miller is taking a liking to is being closer to Evergreen Park.

“Now that we’re two blocks away, we’re gonna bring drums and instruments down to the park ... on Thursday nights and rock out,” she said.

While Pied Piper’s was able to stay downtown, former neighbor Paul’s Flowers went across town to 6323 Kitsap Way, next to the Red Apple grocery store.

“People absolutely love the parking,” said Roberta May, manager of the store. “We’re planning a grand opening for June 1.”

Paul’s Flowers had a very long history in its downtown location.

“Seventy years of stuff was a lot to move, so I’m not looking forward to that again,” she said. “We’re getting there. We got held up by a lot of planning stuff with the city.”

Now ready to go, May is pleased to say business has not been hurt too badly by the move.

“Most customers we had downtown were phone-in, so of course they were able to follow us out here. Some people were kind of annoyed. We had a little old man who would always come in on his bicycle ... but now it’s too far for him to ride,” she said. “We’re hoping to pick up new customers ... who weren’t able to make it downtown before.”

Of the three businesses that used to occupy the downtown corner, the newest, JDB’s Deli, which opened in September 2005, has been hit the hardest.

Owner Jeremy Burden was packing things up Tuesday and said he did not know if his business would be able to continue.

‘I’m kind of looking for something,” Burden said in terms of a new location. “I don’t really know at this point. I don’t know ... if I’ll be able to reopen.”

He said he has looked into other locations but has found “nothing in my price range.”

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