Kirkland shops bring out effort of an Olympian

For 12 years, from the age of 7, Rosalynn Sumners was on the ice by 5 a.m., practicing her jumps, splits and spins for up to eight hours a day.

But Sumners, a three-time U.S. figure-skating champion and Olympic silver medalist, says opening two retail shops in downtown Kirkland gives hard work new meaning.

"I didn't know what I was getting into," Sumners said last week, between greeting shoppers and unpacking boxes of merchandise. "I'm not complaining. It's just, 'whoa.'

"Before, I had to make sure I was emotionally and physically prepared for competitions, and the traveling was exhausting. But this ... " she said, not quite finishing.

"There's just not enough time in the day," added her mom, Betty Sumners, who postponed plans for wintering in Palm Desert, Calif., to help open Bella Tesori (Italian for "beautiful treasures") and Bella Bambini ("beautiful baby").

Sumners, 43, grew up in Edmonds and missed out on a gold medal by one-tenth of a point to East Germany's Katarina Witt at the 1984 Olympics in Sarajevo. She traveled the world as a professional skater for 21 years and retired at 40. Today, she and her husband, Bob Kain, maintain homes in New York City, Palm Desert, Cleveland and Kirkland, where she also oversees a small residential-building company, Silver Lining Development.

Sumners, who talks with her hands and never quite seems to stop, even when she's sitting, said she was feeling restless when she spotted a "For Lease" sign at a corner storefront in downtown Kirkland last May. She said she could no longer count the vacations she had taken since retiring from skating, and "it got to the point where I was like, ugh, not another beautiful vacation," she recalled. "I wanted to feel like I deserved a vacation again."

Within hours, Sumners signed a three-year lease for 600 square feet at Lake Street and Kirkland Avenue, thinking that's where Bella Tesori would go. Turns out, it wasn't big enough for a home décor store, so she rented an adjoining 1,200 square feet (which, as luck would have it, had just been vacated), and put the baby boutique in the smaller space.

She came up with the idea for Bella Bambini after driving out to Redmond to buy a gift for a friend's baby shower. She admits to not writing a business plan until Kain, a senior manager with the Cleveland Browns, suggested it.

"I didn't do much research, but I've been a good shopper, and I've shopped all over the world," she said.

The look and feel of Bella Tesori is "elegant eclectic," with tasseled lamp shades, embroidered silk pillows, litchi-nut-scented candles — and a velvet-and-rhinestone bed costing $4,500. Customers can bring in pictures of furniture that they'd like to have made by local interior designer Lynn Holms, a longtime friend of Sumners.

Bella Bambini sells "the cutest stuff I could find," including ladybug raincoats and painted mermaid bookends, Sumners said. "Basically, if I had children, it's what I would buy them."

Dennis Brown, whose nearby store, Reasons to Believe, sells Santa Claus sculptures, said he didn't know Sumners was a world-renowned athlete until his wife recently told him.

He's glad to have Sumners around, though: His sculptures cost anywhere from $400 to $5,000, and he likes the "clientele that her stores can bring to downtown Kirkland. You can see that she doesn't do anything part way," he said.

Sumners figures it won't be long before she's ready for another vacation.

"I've taken trash to the dump and stayed up until 4 a.m. pricing merchandise. By January, a week in Florida will be sounding good again," she said, laughing.

— Amy Martinez

Jones Soda threw two parties for departing founder Peter van Stolk this week — one Tuesday, when he announced his upcoming resignation, and another "surprise" party Thursday at Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria in South Lake Union. In typical van Stolk fashion, he got excited about the surprise party well before it happened, calling into question how much of a surprise it really was. "That's just Jones," van Stolk explained. — MA

Online travel agency Expedia said Wednesday it will open a store at the Crossroads Shopping Center in Bellevue later this month in partnership with CruiseShipCenters of Vancouver, B.C. The Bellevue store represents Expedia's entry into brick-and-mortar sales of cruise-ship vacations. Expedia announced a strategic investment in CruiseShipCenters earlier this year, saying it wanted to expand beyond the Internet. CruiseShipCenters has about 100 stores in Canada. — AM

Bellevue-based Drugstore.com said Thursday it has begun selling holiday perishables for the first time on its Web site, including Fraser fir wreaths, Christmas trees and fruit bouquets. — AM

Starbucks has chosen the third book it will sell at more than 6,500 company-operated stores nationwide. "Beautiful Boy: A Father's Journey through His Son's Addiction" by David Sheff is a memoir about the author's experiences with his meth-addicted teenager. It will be published in February and follows best-sellers "For One More Day" by Mitch Albom and "A Long Way Gone" by Ishmael Beah as Starbucks book selections. — MA

A QFC store in Ballard closed Monday to allow work to begin on a new residential and retail development called Ballard on the Park. The QFC store, next to Ballard Commons Park, is scheduled to reopen in fall 2009 with nearly 45,000 square feet, double its current size. — AM

Pura Vida Coffee, the Seattle-based roaster and wholesaler, has formed a five-year partnership with Compass Group, a food-management company that already offers Pura Vida to colleges and universities and will now offer its products to vending, corporate, health-care and other clients across North America. Compass will donate 25 cents per pound of coffee bought by its clients to Pura Vida's Create Good fundraising program, which provides help to children in coffee-growing communities. — MA

Cascade Fresh, the Seattle yogurt and sour-cream company, has released its first fully organic product, Cascade Fresh Organic Plain Yogurt. Cascade also sweetens with fruit juice rather than refined sugar, and its yogurt is cultured in the cup, which the company says creates better flavor and a higher probiotic count. — MA

Pyramid Breweries' vice president of sales, Gary McGrath, has resigned effective Dec. 28. Tim McGettigan, now south regional director for Pyramid, will take his position. — MA

Retail Report appears Fridays. Melissa Allison covers the food and beverage industry. She can be reached at 206-464-3312 or mallison@seattletimes.com. Amy Martinez covers goods, services and online retail. She can be reached at 206-464-2923 or amartinez@seattletimes.com