PORT ANGELES — As one flame is extinguished, another rises.
Blue Flame, the barbecue restaurant with the easily recognized airbrushed facade and the signature blue cheese and ribs dish, has closed after seven years as the complex undergoes a change of purpose.
Shara Smith-Widmer, who owns the business complex in which the restaurant once operated, is renovating the space into two new retail shops.
One side will host The Green Flame, one of three licensed recreational marijuana retail shops planned within the outlying Clallam County jurisdiction.
The second space will feature Go-N-Green, a “classy and beautiful” boutique featuring items such as hemp clothing.
“It’s going to be a tourist destination,” Smith-Widmer said.
Smith-Widmer said when she and her husband, David Widmer, first applied for a retail marijuana license, they planned to open a shop in a smaller space adjacent to their Hair Connections Spa, also located in the complex they own in the 4900 block of East U.S. Highway 101.
They later decided to expand their plans, including moving the Blue Flame into a newly renovated restaurant space four doors west in the complex.
Unfortunately, Smith-Widmer said, lease negotiations with Blue Flame owner Sarah Wadley broke down. She declined to go into detail on what prevented negotiations from succeeding.
As a result, the couple have the additional space they need for their “green” businesses, plus a fully renovated turn-key restaurant that is available for lease.
The Blue Flame’s facade will soon be reworked, this time with airbrushed green flames.
An opening date hasn’t been determined, Widmer said.
He confirmed that the license for the marijuana retail store is contingent on a final inspection.
He added that he and his wife haven’t been in too great a hurry to open, noting that other stores already open have often found insufficient product available to sell.
The process of getting a license isn’t easy either, Smith-Widmer said, with the Liquor Control Board conducting a rigorous background check of the owners, including an in-depth look into personal financial and tax records.
The Washington Liquor Control Board plans to license two other retail shops within the Port Angeles city limit and one more in Sequim under Initiative 502, the 2012 measure that legalized recreational marijuana in Washington.
The liquor board’s rules also require extensive security measures in marijuana shops.
Smith-Widmer said that’s fine with her.
“Security is our top priority,” she said.
The couple are working hard to ensure customers feel comfortable when entering the shop.
Smith-Widmer said she wants to help in the larger effort by those in the new industry to “change the face of the cannabis industry.”
The Green Flame shop will be “beautiful,” she said.
It hasn’t been inexpensive, Widmer said, but he added that the couple have saved money by “doing most of it ourselves. I do as much as I can.”
That includes repainting the interior walls, adding new carpets and replacing doors.
Customers of The Green Flame will speak with service representatives through glass, “like at a bank,” Widmer said.
He said the couple decided to apply for a license for a simple reason: “It’s a profitable business.”
“I think great businesspeople getting into this business is a great idea,” Smith-Widmer said.
“What I see happening in Colorado . . . it’s very businesslike. It doesn’t seem to be like what many people — even myself — thought it would be.”
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Reporter Mark St. J. Couhig can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5074, or at mcouhig@peninsuladailynews.com.
