UMATILLA, OR-
Saturday marked the grand opening of The Snack Shack, a new business in Umatilla. A victory for one small business is a victory for the whole city.
The Snack Shack’s grand opening brought life into a building that had been vacant for 18 months before owner Courtney Talbot found it.
“I love that the community has come together for this and really celebrated it. Even the locals are really just excited that the building is back and it’s not vacant anymore and there are people in it,” said Talbot.
It’s an opportunity for her to be her own boss and interact with community members in a place close to her heart.
“It kind of just came as an accident I drove by and had seen the building and I was like, ‘that looks like something we could do’. And it all just kinda fell into place after that,” said Talbot.
Though the pandemic has been tough on local businesses, Umatilla has been tougher. They’ve opened 6 new businesses in the past year, including this one.
Mark Ribich is the President of the Umatilla Chamber of Commerce.
“We’ve got an incredible growth spurt in Umatilla with a housing boom like we’ve never seen before so we need businesses to support those,” said Ribich.
They’ve been making other improvements as well throughout the city and creating momentum.
Brandon Seitz is the Community Development Director for the City of Umatilla.
“We’ve had the residential development going on, we’ve had the larger industrial development, and now the commercial side seems to be catching up a little bit,” said Seitz.
Even though Umatilla has been and is continuing to make changes, Mark says he’s excited for what lies ahead.
Read More: The Snack Shack Becomes Sixth Umatilla Business To Open In Past Year | News