Who's Filling Downtown Gig Harbor's Empty Storefronts This Fall?

On an August afternoon, a crowd gathered at the corner of Harborview Drive and Pioneer Way. Some people sat on bistro chairs outside The Midway, others stood talking, and others walked the block looking into store windows. That is how Gig Harbor Now described the scene a little over a month after the deli opened in the space Heritage Distilling had used as its downtown tasting room.

Less than a year earlier, the same space was heading toward a closing date. Over the past twelve months, the businesses leaving downtown Gig Harbor have mostly been branches of larger operations cutting back. The businesses moving in are small and owner-run, and several of them already operated somewhere else in Gig Harbor before choosing a spot within walking distance of the water.

The Departures Came From Balance Sheets, Not Foot Traffic

Heritage Distilling announced on Oct. 22, 2025, that it would close its tasting rooms, and its Gig Harbor flagship was scheduled to close on Dec. 31, 2025. According to Gig Harbor Now's report on the closures, the company cited high operating costs in the Northwest, including taxes, regulation and rising wages, along with falling alcohol sales and its obligations to shareholders as a public company. The CEO said the Gig Harbor room was profitable by itself but became unprofitable once it lost the support of the company's wider infrastructure.

By the company's own account, the Gig Harbor room was making money when it closed.

Locust Cider followed a similar path. Late last year it closed its taprooms in Seattle, Spokane and Woodinville and kept the Gig Harbor location open. In September it sold that last taproom too. Co-owner Jason Spears told Gig Harbor Now that the costs of running a restaurant or bar, from wages on down, had changed so much that the taproom business "didn't make sense anymore."

The pattern also shows up in the other direction. Fondi Pizza, which is based in Gig Harbor, closed its location in Tacoma's Proctor District on Oct. 3. That location had opened in April 2025, and the company said it had not reached the profitability it needed. The Gig Harbor Fondi is still open. A local operator trimmed its expansion and kept its home base.

Who Moved In, Address by Address

The new arrivals are clustered closely enough that a single walk covers most of them.

The Midway belongs to Trish Huff and her brother Nick Hosea, who opened Morso Bistro in Gig Harbor in 2020. Huff told Gig Harbor Now she had always wanted to open something like it downtown: "When I heard that Heritage was leaving, I felt this was the best spot in the Harbor. Either we do this here or never." The menu leans on sandwiches with names like The Capri, Moira Rose, The Frenchie and The Montauk. It also has salads, including a Shrimp Louie, plus coffee drinks, sweets, beer, wine and cider.

Gig Harbor Wine Co. is moving a short drive closer to the water. Robin and Ben Egeland opened their tasting room on Kimball Drive in 2024. Robin Egeland told Gig Harbor Now that "moving closer to the heart of downtown Gig Harbor has always been a dream of ours," and said the new space is "a more walkable location where people can stop in while spending the afternoon downtown before heading to dinner." The building is next to gather and across Harborview from Dolly Mama.

gather is responding to an older vacancy. Co-owner Pouneh Kaufman said the summer was spent learning what residents wanted to fill the gap Harbor General Store left when it closed on Pioneer Way in 2023. She described the concept as a place for "everyday essentials, locally inspired foods, beverages and last-minute items needed for day on the water or around the harbor."

Smaller Bets, Shorter Hours, Slower Permits

The new owners are expanding carefully, and the details show it.

As of August, The Midway was open seven days a week but only from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. It is a lunch business, and no later hours had been confirmed. gather withdrew its special-use permit requests for certain events, and Kaufman said the cost of pursuing them outweighed the benefits. In July, the Tacoma News Tribune reported summer hours of Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The paper also reported a planned fall closure for a full remodel, with a hoped-for reopening in 2027. In August, Gig Harbor Now described the larger remodel as happening "next year." No later report settles whether the market is open right now.

The Wine Co. move depends on city permits that include plumbing work in the new space. "We don't have a firm opening date just yet," Egeland said.

Each owner is adding hours, permits and remodels one step at a time. Clare Dunis, executive director of the Gig Harbor Downtown Waterfront Alliance, described what independent shops add to a street:

"When independent businesses choose to invest in a downtown, they don't just generate foot traffic; they cultivate a distinct sense of place and keep local dollars circulating where they matter most."

Dunis gave that quote to Gig Harbor Now in August. She also said "the energy along the street this summer has been fantastic."

The Taproom Kept Its Arcade

The Locust Cider sale shows what continuity looks like when a business changes hands. Spears, who lives in Gig Harbor, told Gig Harbor Now he "worked hard to find someone who had a similar vision for the space and wanted to keep it going." The buyer, Arthur Rodenhauser, runs Joysticks at The Outlet Collection in Auburn. He plans to keep the arcade games and live music, add food from Joysticks, and pour Locust Cider along with other brands and beer. "Since there's an arcade there, I didn't want to take away the name," he said of the Harbor Hideout rename, which will come "in time." The Spears family will keep making the cider.

The same thing is happening on Pioneer Way. Gig Harbor Now reported in August that M4S BBQ bought out Brimstone PNW Smokehouse instead of the space going dark. The planned hours were 4 to 9 p.m. Wednesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends, pending a health department inspection.

The changes reach beyond the waterfront. B's Bagels plans to move from Uddenberg Lane into the former O'Looney's Pub on 56th Street by spring, and its current shop will stay open until then. Owner Brittany Erwin told Gig Harbor Now the move is "a better long-term plan for us." It is another Gig Harbor business moving within town, not leaving it.

Before You Walk Down This Month

Several of these details were reported over the summer, so here is what to check before you go:

• The Midway: The 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily schedule is from August. Plan on lunch, not dinner, until the owners announce something different.
• gather: Reports from July and August disagree on when the remodel starts. Check the market's own channels before making a special trip.
• Gig Harbor Wine Co.: The Kimball Drive tasting room is still the address until the Harborview space is permitted and renovated.
• Harbor Hideout: You may still see the Locust Cider name on 57th Street Court while the rename is underway.
• M4S BBQ: No report has confirmed the opening at 7707 Pioneer Way, so verify before you go.
• B's Bagels: Uddenberg Lane through spring, then 56th Street.

Downtown storefronts tell a seller and a buyer a lot about a neighborhood's day-to-day pull, and we follow these changes on Harborview Drive as closely as we follow listings. If you're thinking about how a home near the waterfront fits the way you want to spend your afternoons, Infinity Real Estate will walk through it with you. Schedule a free consultation.