I was able to grab a quick iPhone photo of the construction site where a new Rite-Aid is being built — seemed like the light was red forever, so I snapped away. Looks like they have most of the property leveled, or close to it.

This is at the corner of Gage and Steptoe — there used to be a food mart/gas station there. Rite-Aid hopes to open the new store in late spring 2011. The existing Rite Aid on the Columbia Center Mall grounds will be closed.

This is a post from the Kennewick Real Estate Blog.

New Rite-Aid Moving Along

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This is a post from the Kennewick Real Estate Blog.

Peek Inside Cottonwood Elementary

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After golf, we went down to the Slurpee capital of the world to pick up some treats. Then on to the Best Buy/PetSmart shopping center, and then home.

All in all, a wonderful Sunday. Hope you were able to enjoy the great weekend weather outside, too.

This is a post from the Kennewick Real Estate Blog.

Sunday on the Links

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Hobby Lobby is based in Oklahoma and its web site says the company currently has more than 450 stories in 38 states. The web site also says it’s more than just an arts & crafts place:

The operation, now known as Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., can no longer be considered just an arts and crafts store. With departments ranging from crafts, hobbies, picture framing, jewelry making, fashion fabrics, floral, cards & party, baskets, wearable art, home accents, and holiday supplies, Hobby Lobby is the place to shop with Super Selection, Super Savings . . . Everyday!

There’s only one other Hobby Lobby in Washington — that one is up in Spokane.

This is a post from the Kennewick Real Estate Blog.

Hobby Lobby coming to Kennewick

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The golf tournament happens on Friday — it’s a Best Ball format with a shotgun start. The gala dinner is on Saturday at the Lampson Hangar, with Bonefish Grill catering a gourmet steak and lobster dinner. It all adds up to a fun weekend for a great cause.

You can learn more about it at the Columbia Industries web site.

This is a post from the Kennewick Real Estate Blog.

Columbia Industries Golf Challenge coming to Canyon Lakes

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• Chell Design is now open at 11 S. Benton St. Suite A in downtown Kennewick. The studio offers custom painting/art, murals, decorative finishes, and more. The studio also offers art classes for both adults and children.
• Rite Aid is planning to build a new pharmacy at the corner of Gage and Steptoe (real close to where Kennewick and Richland meet) in what is now the vacant Steptoe Food Mart/gas station property. The company hopes to open the new store in late spring 2011. The existing Rite Aid on the Columbia Center Mall grounds will be closed.
• Fred’s Appliance, a Spokane-based appliance chain, is planning to build and open its first Tri-Cities store at Columbia Center Blvd. and Fourth Avenue in Kennewick. They hope to start construction next month and be open in November.

As always, if you know of any Kennewick business news we should be sharing, please drop us a note.

This is a post from the Kennewick Real Estate Blog.

Kennewick Business News Update

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I was in Cleveland for a few days last month. That’s where the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is (one of my favorite places ever). As I was arriving in Cleveland and walking through the airport to get my suitcase, there was a display of rock concert posters on the wall. And this one caught my eye:

(click for larger version)

That’s a reproduction on the airport wall. I know that because, when I visited the Rock Hall a few days into my visit, I saw the original inside. And yes, it was very cool to see “Kennewick” mentioned by name in such an important place for music history. The poster dates back to 1959. According to this web site, he played down in Klamath Falls the night before, and in Portland two nights before the Kennewick show. But this web site has a concert poster showing that he performed in Vancouver, BC, the night before the Kennewick concert.

All of this really tickled my curiosity. I never knew that the legendary Fats Domino performed in Kennewick, and I never heard of a place called the Tri-City Center. I’ve been doing some searching online, and there’s nothing about the Tri-City Center to be found anywhere.

The only other thing I found online about this poster/concert is this web site where, even though they list the year incorrectly as 1955, you can buy a print of the poster for only $5. (I’ve never heard of that web site and have no idea how trustworthy it is; this is not an endorsement/recommendation.)

UPDATE: Joe from VintageConcertPosters.com sent us this link to another Fats Domino poster, which shows that he played the same Tri-City Center venue on June 29, 1962. Thx Joe.

Do you know anything about the Tri-City Center? Do you know someone who was around back then and who would know? I’d love to hear about this place — where was it? What is it now? Comments are open.

This is a post from the Kennewick Real Estate Blog.

Fats Domino, Concert Posters, and Kennewick History

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This year Kamiakin ranks at #1,058 overall, on a list of 1,600 schools. Just by being included, Kamiakin can say that it’s among the top six percent of high schools in the U.S. It’s also listed as the 17th-best high school in Washington; you can see the full list of Washington honorees here.

Newsweek’s rankings are based on stats related to how many advanced placement tests are taken by students, as well as how many students graduate each year.

This is a post from the Kennewick Real Estate Blog.

Kamiakin HS on Newsweek’s Top Schools List (again)

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It sits in a somewhat small space in the strip mall at 5011 Clearwater Avenue, and that’s one of the first impressions you get — it’s smaller than I expected, with maybe 15-20 tables/booths. It’s clean, and the atmosphere inside is good. I think there were 3-4 big screen TVs up on the walls, all showing a World Cup soccer match. It wasn’t too loud at all.

There’s no traditional waiter service; you walk up to the counter and place your order, then a staffer brings it out to your table. Our lunch was ready in about five minutes, it seemed. Perfect timing.

Even though the restaurant advertises “New York Style Sandwiches and Pizza,” they serve a Philly Cheese Steak. And since I grew up right outside Philadelphia, I had to try it out today. I have pretty high standards when it comes to restaurant cheese steaks (i.e., very few establishments that serve “Philly” cheese steaks should be allowed to use the name), but my cheese steak today was very good. First off, it was huge. It had to be bigger than the foot-long sandwiches you can get elsewhere. It was served in halves, and each half had to be 7-8 inches long. And filled with plenty of meat. It wasn’t quite as good as a true Philly cheese steak, but to be fair … nothing is. I’d definitely order it again in the future.

Not knowing in advance how big the sandwich was, I also ordered a side of french fries. Didn’t need them, which explains why the sandwiches don’t come with fries. The fries were good, and there was a lot of them. But I didn’t need to spend the extra $3 (which seems a tad high regardless of how full I was after the sandwich).

New York Richie’s is well-known for its pizza; I’ll have to try it the next time. I saw 4-5 people at other tables enjoying the pizza, and the slices were as large as advertised. For reference, a full-size pizza is a whopping 20-inches, so picture a slice of that.

Overall, the prices were very fair. The cheese steak was only $7.95, which is a good deal considering its size. The fries were a little spendier than I thought they should’ve been. The two of us ate today for a total of $24 and change. If I’d known that I wouldn’t need the fries, the meal would’ve been closer to $20 — that’s super for a two-person lunch.

To wrap it up … New York Richie’s is good and I’ll be back again. It fills an interesting and needed space in the local restaurant landscape: a quick, relatively inexpensive, sandwich and pizza place that’s perfect for casual meals.

This is a post from the Kennewick Real Estate Blog.

New York Richie’s: Restaurant Review

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The free movies will be shown every Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 10 am. Seating is on a first-come, first-served basis. Here’s the schedule for Regal Cinemas in Kennewick:

June 22-23-24, 2010: Tale of Despereaux (G), Coraline (PG)
June 29-30, July 1 2010: Pirates Who Don’t Do Anything (G), Astro Boy (PG)
July 6-7-8, 2010: Charlotte’s Web (G), Planet 51 (PG)
July 13-14-15, 2010: The Rugrats Movie (G), Ice Age 3 (PG)
July 20-21-22, 2010: Rugrats In Paris (G), Kung Fu Panda (PG)
July 27-28-29, 2010: Wallace & Gromit (G), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (PG)
August 3-4-5, 2010: Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (G), Monsters vs. Aliens (PG)
August 10-11-12, 2010: Doogal (G), Hotel for Dogs (PG)
August 17-18-19, 2010: Muppets From Space (G), Paul Blart: Mall Cop (PG)

The schedule is subject to change, so you may want to check with Regal Cinemas before showing up at the mall for this summer’s free kids movies.

This is a post from the Kennewick Real Estate Blog.

Free Movies This Summer at Regal Cinemas, Kennewick

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