Brothers Ryan & BJ Flood took over the brewery and offsite tap-room in 2019. Menace Brewing in the Fountain District has played host to trivia nights, open mic, and movie showings.

The Local is nestled between Casa Que Pasa and Cafe Adagio on Railroad, and has 36 rotating taps, showcasing independent local breweries. They're also known for having the best Reuben sandwich in town.

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Gretchen was drawn to Bellingham by the outdoor lifestyle - snowboarding, mountain biking and sea kayaking. These Pacific NW elements, along with bright colors, crisp lines, and large-scale design, make up her signature style. Her work can be found on the walls of local breweries and climbing gyms, to the sides of buildings in Bellingham, Seattle and Denver. Gretchen's 'big kahuna?' A mural of the North Cascades that's two football fields long and took an entire month to create on the side of a PSE building. It's the largest mural in Washington State.

Brist Mfg began as a clothing line popular in the WWU student bookstore. The company now manufactures private label hats, t-shirts, flannels and beanies, offers screenprinting & design, AND provides e-commerce and web store management and fulfillment services. Today, their nationwide client list includes Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, the Seattle Mariners, and iconic local brands like Woods Coffee, Kona Bikes, and Aslan Brewing Company.

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Greenhouse began in 1972 and Eric & BreAnne Green purchased the business in 2017. Bre manages the store and is the primary buyer, hand-selecting high-end, premium pieces of home decor, housewares, and furniture. Greenhouse pairs nicely with their real estate business, as they stage homes or work with buyers on making their new house a home. With the holidays approaching, the store on the corner of Holly and Cornwall is a glittering winter wonderland. Today, Bre and Eric balance two businesses and the second season of the HGTV show "Unsellable Houses".

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A brewer, a beertender and a business man walked into a bar...Aslan Brewing Co began in 2012 as a team of three friends. They brewed over 130 pilot batches and determined the core values that guide every development in their company: the Triple Bottom Line model, which places People and the Planet prior to Profits. Two years later, after an extensive construction process, Aslan Brewing Co opened its doors on the corner of Magnolia & North Forest St. Today, Aslan - which is the Turkish word for 'lion' - has three locations, including a taproom in Seattle.

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Erin Baker's all began in a 4-H kitchen at the Whidbey Island Fairgrounds in 1994, when the concept of a nutritionally dense 'breakfast cookie' was a brand new concept. In the early years, Erin made deliveries on a blue Schwinn bicycle, but today, Erin Baker's Wholesome Baked Goods can be found in grocery stores in 17 states and also purchased at erinbakers.com. The goodies have been featured in the Oprah magazine, Women's Health, and included in the menus for both Delta and American Airlines.

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Faithlife all began as a software side project for a Microsoft developer, and the first copies of Logos 1 were shipped from Bob's parents' kitchen table. Today, 28 years later, the software giant has tools available for over 3 billion people worldwide to study theology in their first language. In this episode, Bob talks about Thomas Edison's mining failures, how money is an accelerant, and the grounding effect of going back to 'first principles'.

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Ben Kinney is a giant in the real estate industry, the owner of the Bellingham-based sales team that consistently is one of the top teams in the Keller Williams' US brokerages. Ben himself owns multiple brokerage franchises in the US and London, along with BRIVITY, BKCO Mortage, Place Inc and other companies ancillary to the real estate world.

But Ben's story didn't start easily. Like in the game Monopoly, for Ben it started with one deed and then one green house. Ben was working as a cable guy for Comcast, and chatting with a customer one day:

"I grew up super poor…. Home ownership was nothing I had never considered for myself. She said "I own a duplex", and I said "why didn't you just buy a house?" She said, "I own both sides… the neighbors next door? Their rent pays my mortgage.""

I looked at her and I said, "You live for free?!""

So sit back and listen to the story of this regular guy and phenomenal business owner who lives right here in Whatcom County. Ben also talks about the importance of giving, of focusing on what you can control, and the impromptu cross-country road trip that changed both his business and his relationship to work. As always, the interview talks about leadership and overcoming the challenges that every entrepreneur will face.

Follow the podcast on social for exclusive content and even more localized episodes Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/building.bellingham/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/building.bellingham/ Get to know the Cohen Group NW Website: https://livebellinghamnow.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cohengroupnw/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cohengroupnw/

CreditsHosted by Leo Cohen Produced and Edited by David Pender Lofgren Recorded and Mixed by Andy Rick Social Media Jedi: Cooper Hansley Digital Media Producer: Tiffany Holden Logo: Sam Vogt Theme music: Aaron Guest Recording Studio: Binary Studios

In this interview, we dive into culture, brand, and the PNW roots that created an environment for Woods Coffee to be successful. Wes goes deep into what it takes to make a business work. Planning for the ramp-up time, having enough capital to prepare for one or even two years before the business becomes profitable, and sacrificing to make it work. In the early days, Wes could be found changing the oil in someone's car, with a phone to his ear talking over the next Woods expansion. There's more - analyzing new markets, taking on opportunities others would deem too risky, expanding to 19 locations, and taking Woods from a small business to a big one. Wes is a true entrepreneur. He's vulnerable, he's confident, and he has a vision of what he wants to accomplish. Any entrepreneur's path to success is riddled with challenges - and today we hear about some of the challenges Wes has faced, both as a human and as a business owner.

Follow the podcast on social for exclusive content and even more localized episodes

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/building.bellingham/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/building.bellingham/

Get to know the Cohen Group NWWebsite: https://livebellinghamnow.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cohengroupnw/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cohengroupnw/

CreditsHosted by Leo CohenProduced and Edited by David Pender LofgrenRecorded and Mixed by Andy RickSocial Media: Cooper HansleyDigital Media Producer: Tiffany HoldenLogo: Sam VogtTheme Music: Aaron GuestRecording Studio: Binary Studios

Our guest today is Ray Deck III, a high-octane human, Founding Director of Skookum Kids, and the Bellingham Chamber of Commerce CEO of the Year 2019. Throughout our conversation, Ray shares insights into what makes him a strong leader: taking natural talent and purposefully developing leadership as a skill, planning, preparing and surrounding himself with high-caliber team members who are humble, hungry and smart. Ray's story stretches from being a camp counsellor to moving across the country, to managing a Special Projects team at a tech company, to starting Skookum Kids as a side project and eventually becoming the full-time director. Skookum Kids was built around a single idea. It's an organization whose mission statement says it all "if we take great care of people, the mission will take care of itself. So we work really hard to make this a delightful place to volunteer and to be a foster parent. We believe in health for all, meaning that no person should ever have to sacrifice their own health to serve kids….Healthy, happy well-supported people get more done."Follow the podcast on social for exclusive content and even more localized episodes:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/building.bellingham/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/building.bellingham/

Get to know the Cohen Group NWWebsite: https://livebellinghamnow.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Cohengroupnw/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cohengroupnw/

CreditsHosted by Leo Cohen Produced and Edited by David Pender LofgrenRecorded and Mixed by Andy RickSocial Media: Cooper HansleyDigital Media Producer: Tiffany HoldenLogo: Sam VogtTheme Music: Aaron GuestRecording Studio: Binary Studios