Growth bodes well for bedroom community's merchants

By KATHY GEORGE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Bonney Lake is a bedroom community with few businesses, and those have struggled.

"People really just live here. They don't work here," says Randy McKibbin, a Chamber of Commerce board member and owner of the Bonney Lake Dog House.

Most people work in Tacoma, Auburn and as far north as Seattle.

That makes it tough for local retailers to attract weekday business. McKibbin's pet store, for example, does its best business on Saturdays.

But with the housing growth -- and a one-third population explosion this decade -- the business climate is expected to improve and new businesses are arriving. A new shopping center on Highway 410 boasts a 10-screen theater and a Fred Meyer.

Some of the newer businesses are among the most popular in town. The Kelley Creek Brewery, just outside the city limits, serves cold $2 pints of honey beer in an outdoor garden. Blues concerts in the brewery's outdoor theater, mountain-bike races and a Halloween haunted house have helped build a loyal following.

The Mad Dogs Cafe, open a little more than a year, draws busy breakfast and lunch crowds with food described by the Tacoma News Tribune as some of the best in eastern Pierce County. With old-fashioned red vinyl booths, black-and-white tile floors and counter stools, the cafe sells coffee for "90 cents an hour" and encourages customers to bring in photos of their pets to hang on the "Wall of Fame."