EVERETT — When Lauren Bivens started Harbor Marine in 1979, he used just a small area of a long building on the Everett waterfront.
As he expanded the businesses through the years, he grabbed more pieces — one for more retail space, another for transmission work, another for diese
l engines — until he had all 300 feet of the narrow structure.
“People left, and we just started taking the space,” he said. “We used what we had.”
Harbor Marine, which now has 26 employees, outgrew its 18,000-square-foot space and has now moved to a new waterfront location with 24,000 square feet at 1032 W. Marine View Drive.
There is much more space now for boating equipment and fishing gear, as well as room to work on boats, repair engines and rebuild transmissions.
In addition to a large service department for retail customers, Harbor Marine also has a wholesale department that sells transmissions and other items to other dealers.
“We’re pretty diverse,” he said. “When there’s an opportunity out there we’ve tried to grab onto it. I think we’ve been successful with that.”
Bivens said the remodeled building, formerly an industrial painting center, will be ideal because it’s right near the Port of Everett’s popular boat launch on 10th Street.
“People will be able to pull their boat out and stop and get something,” he said.
The entrance is actually along 10th Street, and he plans to have the address changed to 10th St.
“It has a lot of growth potential,” Bivens said.
Instead of the old location, where equipment, engines and transmissions were stacked to the ceiling in some spots, the new location’s 26-foot-high ceilings will allow for an expanded inventory.
Bivens said he also expects to sublet some of the space to companion businesses, like a canvas maker, yacht broker or electrician. “We’ll try to make this a destination,” he added.
Now is a slow time for the business, so Bivens is still completing his remodeling work. But all his equipment has been moved, and employees are starting to work out of the new location.
He expects to be ready to operate completely out of the new facility by the end of January.
The operation may bring some surprises to long-time customers because they’ll now be able to see that the business is much larger than it appeared in its former building.
“A lot of people don’t think that we have anymore than a retail store,” Bivens said. “This will create a lot of awareness and will put all the things we have together.”
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