Charlie McKissick’s arm is getting tired. He’s been cradling a hand-made Apple Marionberry Crumb pie, and it’s getting heavier as he learns more about it.

“This is really a phenomenal pie,” raves Joe Cvar, the deli manager for the Snoqualmie Ridge IGA. The pastry is from the Seattle Pie Company, and while a few stores in the Seattle area retail the pies frozen and ready to bake, “we’re the only ones who get them like this,” Cvar said.

McKissick looks at the ingredients, flour, sugar, salt, fruit, and something called leaf lard.

“It’s really premium lard,” Cvar explains, “if you’re into lard,” which he is.

The store “demo’ed” the pies two weeks ago and started carrying them last week. The addition represents the kind of changes that the store has made with great success since it opened in November, 2008. The new management worked to outgrow the reputation of the prior store that struggled in the same location by improving the selection and, most importantly, by finding out what customers wanted.

“We had Hamburger Helper on the shelf that was getting out-dated,” said McKissick. “The long and the short of it is we needed to know our demographic base better.”

He came on as store manager in July 2009, and a year later, expanded and reorganized the display space and layout of the entire store to suit the clientele that he was getting to know.

“I think our demographic… they’re better educated than our other locations, and they’re definitely more health conscious,” McKissick said. Traditional processed foods got less shelf space, organics got more. So did fresh produce, which outsold the meat department in volume—highly unusual— and wine.

“Wine is a big chunk of this store’s business,” he said.

The store has enjoyed continued growth even through the recession, which McKissick attributes partly to the adage that people always have to eat, partly to the store’s responsiveness to customers.

“It’s a learning process,” he said, switching the pie to his other arm. “It always is.”

The grocery’s experience is far from unique. While economic challenges are real, many Valley businesses are thriving, learning and growing. Take IGA neighbor Finaghty’s Irish Pub: After opening its doors at the beginning of the recession, Finaghty’s expanded in 2009 and successfully celebrated its third year in business last month. In downtown Snoqualmie, the Snoqualmie Falls Candy Factory continues its 20-year run, and nearby Gianfranco Ristorante Italiano celebrates a decade in business this spring. At the former Weyerhaueser mill site, DirtFish Rally School turned empty lots and land into a tourist-driving destination and is entering its second year of operations.

Local citizens’ groups, chambers and city officials are watching such successes, and laying plans to make the entire Valley a more prosperous place to do business.

Kim Arellano, president of the Snoqualmie Valley Women in Business professional group, said smart businesses are networking and getting involved in community organizations.

“They’re being seen,” said Arellano, who pointed to North Bend Theatre owner Cindy Walker’s efforts to build customer loyalty, and Snoqualmie Valley Hospital’s expansion of long-term care services as examples of strong moves.

Growth groundwork

Every morning, North Bend empties out. A full 85 percent of residents commute to jobs outside the city. Changing that would be a big help to the business community, said Mayor Ken Hearing.

“If we can keep those folks working closer to home,” he thinks, “our citizens would be able to live, work and play in the community.”

And shop there, naturally.

Carnation officials are thinking along the same lines, but while Hearing wants to attract businesses that pay living wages to North Bend residents who already have lots of businesses to support, Carnation City Manager Ken Carter hopes to attract local residents with a developer-friendly atmosphere first, then more businesses.

Asked what the city’s business community needs, Carter’s immediate answer is “More population”—more people to share the cost of the city’s infrastructure means lower costs, and more disposable income, for all.

“We are trying to support utilities and the sewer system on the backs of 200 or 300 customers,” Carter said.

Carnation’s growth was stifled for decades because the city had no sewer system. Any building had to have enough space for a septic tank and drainfield to support it, making both commercial and residential development prohibitively expensive.

In July 2006, though, the city broke ground on its new sewer system. The council scrambled to amend downtown design guidelines before the system came online in 2008, bracing for the rush that didn’t come.

“We had one business open, and then the economy tanked,” said Mayor Lee Grumman.

Also a business-owner and long-time Carnation resident, Grumman sees one advantage in the continued delay of the city’s anticipated explosion.

“We are in the process of saying what is appropriate for development in Carnation,” she said.

To Collienne Becker, Carnation Chamber of Commerce President, appropriate developments will match the character of the city.

“If a chain did come in, it should look like Carnation. On the outside, I would want it to be very rural, like it’s been there forever,” she explained.

In North Bend, a similar process is underway, headed up by Community and Economic Development Director Gina Estep. She said the city’s approach to business has taken two paths, one focused on business recruitment, the other focused on community promotion.

“The business recruitment aspect is a little bit of a challenge,” she said, even with North Bend’s advantageous location on I-90. However, by May, the city’s new business website should be live, including a section just for business recruitment and detailed information on doing business in the city.  Estep said the city will compile a list of businesses “that have a character that will fit North Bend,” and target them with e-mailings directing them to the website.

Snoqualmie Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Directory Fritz Ribary applauds efforts by local cities to use the Web to entice businesses to locate here.

“We’re all trying to make sure we’re on the same page,” he said. “North Bend and Snoqualmie are comparing notes to make sure they’re presenting a united front.”

For outdoor attractions and activities, the Snoqualmie Valley has an embarrassment of riches.

But when it comes to lodging options, “we’re shooting ourselves in the foot,” Ribary said.

“If we’re ever going to have real economic growth, we’ve got to have someplace for people to stay,” said Ribary, who takes constant calls from prospective visitors looking for what he describes as quality hotels with capacity. He’s encouraged by potential lodging projects in North Bend, Snoqualmie and at the tribal casino.

Community promotion has already proved a success for both North Bend and Carnation, and both cities expect that to continue. Becker described several events the Carnation Chamber of Commerce is considering for this summer, as well as building on existing events like the Carnation 4th celebration and the August Evergreen Classic horse show.

North Bend has created a specific marketing team just for branding the city, and they’ve built a full calendar of events including summer sporting events that are expected to draw more than 14,000 people. That, plus new favorites like the community Block Party, should lend some help to city businesses.

“We got a lot of feedback from businesses that the Block Party was one of their best days,” said Estep, noting that the city is working to get to know its business community, and to find out what they think they need.

Grumman’s country-store style shop has become something of a destination in the city, but she is still concerned for the other businesses, especially when she sees a long-standing shop like PK Variety Store close its doors, which happened in January. She’s seen firsthand the benefit of customers overflowing from one business to the next, and says she would like “just to get the empty storefronts filled.”

Keeping consistent

Wes and Sharon Sorstokke are in many ways an anchor for downtown Snoqualmie. The couple owns retail space for four businesses, including their Snoqualmie Falls Candy Factory. They’ve been operating in the city since 1996, have no plans to go anywhere else, and have no plans to change anything at the Candy Factory.

“I thought it was the cutest place I’d ever seen,” said Wes.

So the shop will continue selling ice cream, caramel corn, candies, and lunch fare in its old-fashioned soda shop style indefinitely, no matter what anyone says.

“It is the same around here as it was 15 years ago, and I don’t know that there’s anything wrong with that,” said Sharon. She attributes their longevity to a combination of things, from a solid customer base of “our dear regulars and friends,” to their successful expansion of their wholesale distribution in recent years, to external support. “The train depot and the Falls gift shop have been very kind to us, they send a lot of people here in the summers,” she said.

Mainly, though, Sharon thinks it’s stubbornness on their part, and a commitment to doing business in Snoqualmie, because they own the building.

“That’s kind of a double-edged sword,” she said.

They worry about the other storefronts that they’ve heard might be closing, and try to support other businesses when they can, including referring customers to the competing ice cream shop on Snoqualmie Ridge when they can’t find what they want downtown.

“Everybody needs my help, and I need theirs,” Wes said.