Nasty Jack’s, Planter Hotel on the market

Two businesses with deep roots on First Street are selling their buildings and all or part of their businesses.

The multi-building Nasty Jack’s complex at First and Morris is listed for $1 million. The antique store is available separately for $200,000.

The Hotel Planter’s storefronts at 713-719 First Street are on the market for $1.75 million. Earthenworks Gallery and other retail businesses are not included.

Nasty Jack’s was founded in 1972 by the late “Nasty” Jack Wilkins with his partner “Diamond” Jim Reynolds. When Nasty Jack died in 1994, his daughter Marlo Frank and her husband Gary took over the iconic La Conner business.

Frank says business is good, but she and Gary are getting tired of moving heavy furniture.

“We’ve been here 26 years, seven days a week,” she told the Weekly News. “We love what we do, but we want to get the ball rolling before we need to sell,” she said. “We’ve seen too many people wait too long.”

Frank says Nasty Jack’s two buildings, parking lot and the Ice Cream Tower space add up to three lots. With one upstairs apartment and lots of raw second-floor space, it is a unique purchase.

And business this year is “on par with 2019,” she said, because the something-for-everyone store attracts families and couples itching for a socially distanced, regional getaway.

What kind of buyer do they envision? “Maybe someone like the Tulip Town team can help get the store to its third generation,” she said. “It’s an awfully big store for one family to run.”

Donald Hoskins, co-owner of the Planter Hotel and Earthenworks Gallery, found La Conner while drinking beer at the 1890s Tavern as a Western student.

“We used to call it ‘the hippie town’,” he said. “I couldn’t even remember the name La Conner.”

After 41 years as La Conner merchants, Don and his wife Cynthia know the name well.

The Hoskins had operated their Earthenworks Gallery for several years at Pier 7 when the Planter Hotel came up for sale in 1986.

The building was condemned. “Running a hotel was not in the picture,” he remembered. “The building department said we could start downstairs, get some cash flow, then do something upstairs.”

Three years of renovation later, the Planter Hotel opened, and the Hoskins were in the hotel business, too.

“We were lucky,” said Don. “We got here at the right time.”

The right time has lasted four decades – but now, like Margo and Gary Frank, the Hoskins are thinking about the future.

Their daughter is not interested in taking over the hotel and two Earthenworks galleries. (A second store is located in Port Townsend.)

“It’s not her passion,” said Don. “My wife and I like the business, we like working with artists, but at some point you’ve got to let go, and I’m almost 70!”

The Hoskins listed the property about a year ago and refused some low offers. Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, no one has called.

“We’re hoping to attract someone who wants a lifestyle change and will take over the hotel,” he said. “If I have to rent for a while, that’s okay.”

Business, however, is down. “We’re probably at 25% of what we should be doing now, partly due to the closed border, since about 30% of our store and hotel customers are Canadians,” said Don.

The one upside is that he has had plenty of time for maintenance, and the hotel looks the best it has in years.

“We’ve ridden waves like this one before, though not as bad,” he said. “And lots of La Conner merchants are like me. They have been here a long time, they own their building and they’re not going to go away.

“I am very optimistic about La Conner.”