Here's why Bellingham commercial spaces show surprising results during the pandemic

Demand for commercial retail space in the coming year will be difficult to judge because there are so many competing pressures as we try to move beyond the pandemic, said James McCafferty, co-director at Western Washington University’s Center for Economic and Business Research. Some studies indicate that consumers plan to stick with online shopping/curbside pickup, while other studies note people are itching to get back into brick-and-mortar stores.

In Whatcom County, Canadian cross-border shopping is also a factor. As of now, the border is restricted to only essential travel through Wednesday, April 21, but those restrictions are expected to be extended as Canada, particularly British Columbia, deals with a surge of COVID-19 variant cases.

When the border opens could be a big factor in whether new retailers decide to open new stores here. Even the different types of retail have different pressures, McCafferty said, noting that restaurants will have different pressures compared to a retail store.

It’s also worth noting that the 2015 benchmark in the report was a time of retail reset, said Hart Hodges, co-director of the research center. It was when the U.S. and Whatcom County were recovering from the global financial meltdown that took place around 2008.