<< Previous   of   Next >> Snohomish County Business Journal archives  (click to enlarge) RE/MAX Mill Creek Realtor John Strother made the cover of the Snohomish County Business Journal's inaugural issue, which was published in April 1998.

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SCBJ 10 Years The Snohomish County Business Journal will mark its 10th anniversary throughout the next year by looking back in time at the events that made the news.

CONTACT SCBJ Kurt Batdorf, Editor kbatdorf@scbj.com

SCBJ looks back a decade

Even in 1998, technology was a hot topic

By John Wolcott
SCBJ Editor

Looking back to 1998, our first issue featured a cover story on “Small Tools for Small Businesses,” how business people were using laptop computers and digital cameras. This was a time when those tools, plus scanners and photo-imaging programs were just beginning to enable people to operate their businesses more efficiently and, presumably, more profitably. Home-based offices were beginning to match or beat equipment available in “regular” offices.

The photo on the cover showed RE/MAX Mill Creek Realtor John Strother holding a laptop computer with an external Richochet wireless modem. That was long before today’s technology with high-speed wireless cards inside the laptops. His Ricoh digital camera had only 10 megabytes of memory.

In 1998, Strother and his wife, Mimi, were pioneers, using every high-tech office and mobile device they could find to save time, stay in touch with their clients, increase their real estate transactions and be more competitive than others in their field.

Today, John and Mimi have moved to LaConner. John retired last summer but Mimi continues to run their business from the RE/MAX Mill Creek office. For the past decade they continued to depend on new technology to grow their business and still have their own Web site - www.mimiandjohn.com.

So, what else was happening a decade ago? Here are some of the headlines and news stories from that first issue of the journal published in April 1998.

South County convention center vital
Supporters of a performing arts/convention center for the Lynnwood area were still campaigning for much-needed meeting facilities, including the South Snohomish County Chamber of Commerce’s president, Mike Caldwell, and the Snohomish County Tourism bureau’s director, Sandy Ward. Years later, the state’s new public facilities financing legislation provided the key to building today’s Lynnwood Convention Center.

EDC Moving to I-5 Business Park
The newly built Quadrant I-5 Corporate Park in south Everett became home to the Snohomish County Economic Development Council from its previous offices in space shared with United Way. John Thoresen was then the EDC president.

Coffee entrepreneur brewing growth
Christian Karr, president of Espresso Connection Gourmet Coffee Bars in Everett opened his ninth outlet in Marysville and was up to 100 employees at the time, with stores in Anacortes, Everett and other communities.

First Frontier Bank stock offering
Frontier Bank President Bob Dickson announced that the bank, then 20 years old with 19 branches, was about to make its first stock offering on Nasdaq. Dickson said his goal was to continue to grow the bank without sacrificing the feel of a community bank.

Y2K computer scare begins spreading
Businesses in Snohomish County were preparing for the impact of the year 2000 on their computers. Due to the way computers were programmed with their software, there were fears that the computers could not recognize the new century and computers would shut down, along with the businesses that depended on them.

Web page a big plus for building plan center
Cheri French of the Snohomish County Building News and Plan Center in Everett had launched a Web site to provide electronic versions of building plans rather than the traditional large paper versions. Costs were lowered, space was conserved and the plans were available without people having to come into the plan center, she said.

Transportation issues dominate the Legislature
Gov. Gary Locke and legislators promoted various solutions to funding work on the state’s highways, including a Republican plan for selling $1.9 billion in bonds for financing the work. The financing would pay for 42 projects in Snohomish County, but the whole bond sale and list of projects first had to be approved by the voters. Meanwhile, state leaders continued lamenting the headaches of slow movement of workers and freight on the state’s road due to congestion.

Chamber of Commerce sections
For the first few years of the business journal, the Everett Area and South Snohomish County chambers of commerce each published sections with news of events, people and economic trends.

Church becomes beauty salon
In Mukilteo, hairstylist Branda DeForest opened her Park Avenue Salon and also leased space to five other stylists and a manicurist. She began her business after graduating from the Sno-Isle Skills Center in Everett.

RV Outlet Supermall opens in Marysville
Boasting 150 models on its I-5 and Fourth Street site, the RV Outlet Supermall opened by the Tulalip Casino (the smaller, original one now used by the Tulalip Tribes’ as the Quil Ceda “Q” Casino).

Marysville Regal Cinemas boasts 14 screens
A modern new cineplex with stadium seating in six of the 14 theaters was under construction that year, dwarfing the capacity of two-screen Marysville Twin Cinema. The smaller theater soon closed after trying to survive with bargain movies as its niche while the Regal Cinemas complex drew crowds with first-run movies.

Marysville, Tulalip Tribes mum on Wal-Mart
Since then, of course, the store has opened in the tribes’ Quil Ceda Village, but in 1998 it was only a rumor that the giant discount chain might build a store on the reservation similar to one that had been announced but not built yet on 164th Street SW in Lynnwood.

County’s economy may have peaked
The local economy was strong, with an 8.5 percent growth in jobs in 1997 over 1996 and an unemployment rate of 4.5 percent in Feb. 1997. Residential building permits on county land totaled 291 in February 1997 and 258 in January 1998. Single-family home sales were up 9 percent from February 1997 to 1998. In the same period, the average price of homes rose 14 percent to $186,378, and the median price was up 5 percent to $185,143.

Port of Everett log exports fall
The port’s prime export product, logs, was showing a dramatic decline, along with lumber exports, down from 2 million short tons in 1988 to 339,000 in 1997, with vessel calls declining from 156 to 128 over the period.

AquaSox team welcomes new stadium
The AquaSox baseball team celebrated the opening of the newly renovated and expanded Everett Memorial Stadium, with upgraded buildings and more seats, plus a new area for groups gatherings and picnics at the games.

Leadership Snohomish County launched
After extensive planning in the business community, Leadership Snohomish County was launched to train future community leaders. Everett Area Chamber of Commerce President and Chief Executive Officer Dick Bennett said the program answered the continuing need to find more young people to take leadership roles in United Way, the Everett chamber and other community groups.