The Harborview and Pioneer Corner Is Rebuilding What the Harbor General Store Left Behind

When the Harbor General Store closed unexpectedly in 2023, downtown Gig Harbor lost a stop that sold coffee, snacks, beer, wine, breakfast and lunch all in one place. Bella Femmina's closing at the corner of Harborview Drive and Pioneer Way left the intersection without a restaurant for more than two years. Since July 2026, the space has been filling again with a few small, flexible shops a short walk apart, and each one does part of the job the general store used to do.

A corner that has had many tenants

In January, Gig Harbor Now named the Harbor Inn, W.B. Scott's, Spiro's Pizza and Pasta, and the Pogey Bait ice cream parlor, which the paper said locals in their 50s and older will remember well.

When Heritage Distilling announced it would close its flagship tasting room at 3118 Harborview Drive, landlord Jannae Mitton heard from a lot of interested tenants quickly. About 10 of them pitched concepts, including a martini bar, several wine businesses with tasting rooms, and a coffee shop. Mitton owns the building with her mother, Joan. She told Gig Harbor Now that her decision "ultimately came down to, what was going to be the best" for downtown. She also said the winning concept was "really going to fill a void" left by the Harbor General Store. Her family had owned that store's building at 7804 Pioneer Way until 2013.

So the landlord had a clear goal: a place where people could stop for any reason, not just a place for dinner.

The Midway is several businesses in one storefront

The Midway opened July 2 to a crowd. It is run by Trish Huff, who also owns Morso Bistro in the Finholm District, and her brother, chef Nick Hosea. Hosea moved back to Gig Harbor from Barcelona for the project, and his résumé includes the pastry kitchen at Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill.

Its launch plan described a European espresso bar and bakery in the morning and a deli at lunch. Later in the day, it planned simple bites with local draft beer and wine by the glass, but no hard liquor. The market shelves were planned for fresh pasta, local jams, honey, olive oil, picnic supplies and candles from local makers. That covers most of what the general store used to sell.

Hosea changes the menu often. In August, he told Gig Harbor Now that caramelized onion danishes sold far worse than his earlier peach and mint ones. The sandwich board includes the Moira Rose, a kimchi grilled cheese named after the Schitt's Creek character, along with the Plain Jane, The Montauk and The Frenchie.

The name has local history behind it. It comes from the Midway School, a wooden schoolhouse in the peninsula's Midway neighborhood along 38th Avenue south of 56th Street, where Huff grew up nearby. The restored schoolhouse is now on display at the Harbor History Museum.

Check the hours before you go. Gig Harbor Now reported 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily in August. Since then, The Midway's online listings have shown different times, and none of them say when they were last updated. Either way, it is a daytime business. It isn't a dinner spot.

gather covers what the general store did for boaters

A few doors down at 3126 Harborview Drive is gather Gig Harbor, a yellow-and-white market owned by Mandy Minovi and Pouneh Kaufman. The lowercase "g" is intentional. Kaufman described it to Gig Harbor Now as a place for "boaters, residents and visitors" to pick up everyday essentials, local foods, drinks and anything they forgot for a day on the water, and then "stay awhile to gather, play games, enjoy good food and drinks." She said the owners spent the summer learning what the community wanted to replace the Harbor General Store.

gather's online ordering page lists hours of 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on weekends. It is closed Mondays. Since The Midway is a daytime spot, gather's 6 p.m. weekday close adds a couple of hours of afternoon activity at that end of Harborview.

Why the owners are starting small

The newcomers are deliberately starting small. Huff and Hosea told Gig Harbor Now they planned to begin modestly, and that delivery or longer hours might come later. gather withdrew its special-use permit requests with the city for certain events because, Kaufman said, the cost of pursuing them outweighed the benefits. The owners are planning a bigger remodel for 2027.

A business change outside downtown helps explain why. In September, Locust Cider's owners sold their Gig Harbor taproom on 57th Street Court, next to the Inn at Gig Harbor, to Art Rodenhauser, who runs Joysticks in Auburn. The cider will still be made by Locust. Co-owner Jason Spears told Gig Harbor Now that the economics of running a restaurant or bar, "from wages and other costs," had changed so much that operating taprooms no longer made sense for his company. He also said he worked to find a buyer who would keep the space going for the community. Rodenhauser plans to rename it the Harbor Hideout and keep the arcade, games and live music.

With those costs, a deli that closes in the afternoon and a market that sells sandwiches, sunscreen and board-game time are lower-risk ways to rebuild a downtown corner than a full-service restaurant open late. Clare Dunis, executive director of the Gig Harbor Downtown Waterfront Alliance, made a similar point to Gig Harbor Now in August:

"While new eateries and sweet treats certainly draw foot traffic, the bigger story is how an active, walkable commercial core fosters human connection."

What comes next, from Pioneer to Dolly Mama

Two more openings are on the way, and both would extend the same model. Starting at the intersection, here is what's planned:

1. 7707 Pioneer Way. Brimstone PNW Smokehouse served its last meal on Aug. 2 after its owners sold the business. M4S BBQ is moving in. It's run by Brenda and Matt Henning, who own My 4 Sons BBQ. The menu announced in August includes brisket, ribs, pulled pork, chicken, smoke-fried wings, Pig Pops, Beef Cheek Nachos and a BBQ Sundae. In late August, the soft opening was expected within a week or two, pending a health inspection. As of WhatNow's Oct. 2 report, the restaurant was still preparing to open and had no announced date.
2. 3202 Harborview Drive. Gig Harbor Wine Co. is moving its wine bar from Kimball Drive into the building next to gather, across Harborview from Dolly Mama. Co-owner Robin Egeland said the move depends on city permits, including for plumbing work. She hopes to open by the end of the year but said the timeline is "still TBD." She described the new location as a place people can stop "while spending the afternoon downtown before heading to dinner."

If both open as planned, the block from 7707 Pioneer to 3202 Harborview would have barbecue, a deli and bakery, a market and a wine bar, all at street level and close together. Together they would cover about the same daily needs the Harbor General Store once did.

Two dates on the corner this fall

The Downtown Waterfront Alliance's fall calendar runs right through this stretch of Harborview.

On Halloween, the closure puts The Midway, gather and the future Gig Harbor Wine Co. space inside the car-free section of Harborview. Shop the Harbor tickets go on sale five days from now. The Alliance's posted participant list still includes Brimstone, which closed in August, so check with individual businesses about which ones are taking part.

If you're wondering how a short walk to Harborview and Pioneer affects a home you own or one you're considering, Julia Runyan and The Runyan Group can walk you through it. Let's Connect.