New pizza shop set to open up near Whatcom Community College
BELLINGHAM –Westside Pizza will be opening a new store near Whatcom Community College on Cordata Parkway scheduled for June 1. There are currently 17 locations throughout Washington with the closest in Lynden.
Why Choose Bellingham ?
According to Jason West, the franchise coordinator, “it just made sense to open in Bellingham. All of our other stores have been in smaller cities and we are ready to expand.” The owner, Alden McCurdy, went to Western Washington University and knows the Bellingham area well. However it was not always easy to start the business here. When asked what it was like to work with the city of Bellingham, McCurdy replied, “we definitely had to jump through some hoops. They made us re-submit permits once which were a pain. They made me follow rules to the t.”
Location so close to the community college was intentional in hopes that of increasing the size of the customer base. “We expect a lot of students to be stopping by and if nothing more at least they are getting exposure to our store. We even have one or two Whatcom students working for us so we hope to spread the word that way as well,” West said. McCurdy also added that, “We are expecting to be primarily a delivery service so I chose this location for all the apartments in the area. I am sure there will be a lot of day traffic from the school though.”
Being primarily a delivery service could serve to be tough, however. According to Beverly Jacobs, a co-president of the neighborhood association, the intersection of Meridian Street and West Bakerview Road is one of the most congested in the neighborhood. Delivery cars going in and out of Westside Pizza on Cordata, one street over, will only increase this traffic and may delay delivery times.
One Whatcom Community College student, Johnny Kuan, when asked what kind of pizza he is looking for said “I like pizza places that offer a wide variety of pizzas. Sometimes I'll feel boring and want a simple pepperoni pizza but other times I'll be in the adventurous mood and want artichoke, pineapple and pepperoni. It's always good for a pizza joint to have a wide selection.” He also says he feels he will be a frequent customer. “My friend Steve and I always go for pizza on Mondays,” Kuan said.
What's Being Served Up
Although the favorite pizza varies location to location, one of the favorites, according to West, is “Death by Pizza.” This 5-pound pizza features pepperoni, Canadian bacon, sausage, pineapple, beef, mushrooms, olives, onions, green peppers and bacon bits. Other pizzas on the menu include garlic chicken, chicken bacon ranch, barbeque chicken and the gourmet veggie, just to name a few. All of the medium pizzas tend to be about $15 but may vary a few dollars depending on store location and type of pizza you desire.
Also, on every box of pizza there are points which customers can collect to get discounts on certain products. In addition, according to their website, “we offer fundraising programs that could put 25% of your sales generated into your organization.” These fundraising events tend to happen fairly often according to West.
Westside Prepared To Face Challenges
There are other restaurants around with which Westside Pizza will have to compete. One of these places is Extremes Sports Grill located on Meridian Street. Extremes also offers pizzas and calzones that are made from homemade dough and baked to order in a wood stone oven along with sandwiches and various appetizers. The manager, Carl Schuessler, said “Any new store will be competition. But sometimes competition can be a good thing. We have a wide variety of customers ordering various things so I am not too worried.”
The current recession will also serve to be an obstacle for Westside. Another Whatcom Community College student, Graham Leake, expressed that he would currently only be willing to spend about $10 on a pizza. Westside will lose customers such as these if they choose to keep the average price of a pizza at $15.
