POULSBO — Bluewater Artworks Gallery and Framing, 18961 Front St., closed its doors on Aug. 28.

The closure is one of the biggest changes in the downtown business scene.

Russ and Christy Camerer, who owned and managed Bluewater for almost five years, said the closure is bittersweet but they are looking forward to having more time with each other.

“We’re supposed to hand the keys over tomorrow,” Russ said on Sept. 14. “It’s bittersweet, and it’s been a great experience. We’ve learned a lot. Christy is going to be an artist again and that’s a marvelous thing.”

The couple had hoped to sell the arts gallery and custom framing service but, after a three-week discussion, the potential buyer backed out.

“People want to order everything online anymore — including artwork. It’s hard,” Russ said. “We sold countless originals. It would have taken a full-time person just to post and update the website.”

The shop featured 125 local artists, some of which have found other galleries in the downtown area.

“We’re going back to a sole proprietorship, where I’ll do the framing for my wife,” Russ said.

The building, owned by the Mentor Group, is said to have some potential new tenants, who will reportedly look at the space in the next few days.

The waterfront side of the building, at 18955 Anderson Parkway, is getting a  facelift in anticipation for a new upstairs tenant. Miles Yanick & Co., an architectural firm, will move in after the work is complete.

The building was originally the Poulsbo Athletic Club, built in 1908. In 1917, the building was sold to the Sons of Norway Lodge and the name changed to Greig Hall. The lodge moved to its current site when that building was built in 1973.

“It is fun to picture our mother, Joan Brix Mentor Carter, actually attending dances [in Greig Hall] during her teens,” said Judy Mentor Eagleson, Mentor Company president.

“My father, Joe Mentor, purchased the building and raised [the height of] Greig Hall to accommodate a Washington state liquor store underneath,” Mentor said. “The liquor store moved out in 1994 and the space was reconfigured as the Poulsbo Antique Mall. The original Greig Hall remains above the Poulsbo Antique Mall, complete with wooden floors and gymnasium-height ceilings, and has never been occupied.”

Until now.

“This current phase of the construction is addressing the exterior of the building and finishing the interior of the [upstairs] portion,” Eagleson said. “We named this portion of the building the Brix Vatten Building, in honor of our mother’s Scandinavian parents, Jim and Shirley Brix, longtime Poulsbo residents. We have signed a lease for a portion of the upstairs with an architect, Miles Yanick, leaving two additional spaces available upstairs.”

As of now, the building includes two downstairs tenants, The Poulsbo Antique Mall and Eye Candy Salon. Two additional retail spaces will be added to the first floor.

“We are excited about this project and the impact it will have on downtown Poulsbo,” Eagleson said. “The community support and appreciation we have already received has been heartwarming.”

Back on Front Street: Paper Quirks, 18850 Front St. NE, is having a good year.

“We opened our doors in March,” owner Stephanie Hughes said. “And even with flexible hours, we’ve been doing really well.”

The shop features eclectic and vintage papers, stamps, and stationary, and provides specialized print services.

“I want this to be a place where people see something they haven’t seen before, or they see it in a different way,” Hughes said. “I want this to be a comfortable place, with something for everyone and every budget.”

The shop is working on wedding invitations for a well-known client. Although she’s unable to say who, Hughes said, “It’s nice to be trusted with something like that … We were already a finalist in Best of North Kitsap and we’ve only been here five months.”

A few doors down, upstairs at 18846 Front St. NE No. 200, is Amanda’s Art Yarn. The shop opened in 1990 and may be one of the oldest established businesses on Front Street, but some of their approaches to yarn and weaving are cutting edge.

“We are Poulsbo’s best-kept secret,” owner Amanda Richardson said.

The shop is hosting two-hour knitting lessons from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays for $10 and offers free weaving demonstrations on Saturdays and Sundays.

“I’ve really tried to develop this shop into something unique,” Richardson said. And she feels confident she’s done that, with a wall of her hand-dyed yarn with unique colors and more then 100 hand-designed patterns she said people come from all over the world to purchase.

“We even have two parking spaces [by] the back door,” she said. “This is kind of like a New York walk-up shop. We’re almost 1,400 square feet and we’re packed.”

Richardson is also excited about the upcoming “yarn crawl” in October, called “Sock-toberfest.” The event involves sock-weight yarn shops in Allyn, Fife, Gig Harbor, Tacoma, and Poulsbo.

“Even if you just come here, it should be really fun,” Richardson said. “They’ll be two free patterns, a drawing for door prizes, and refreshments. Crafting is a great way to engage your whole body in relaxation by controlling your rhythmic movements.”

The waterfront side of the Mentor Company’s building, at 18955 Anderson Parkway, is getting a facelift in anticipation for a new upstairs tenant. Miles Yanick & Co., an architectural firm, will move in after the work is complete. (Sophie Bonomi / Herald)

Amanda’s Art Yarn will participate in ‘Sock-toberfest,’ an event involving sock-weight yarn shops in Allyn, Fife, Gig Harbor, Tacoma, and Poulsbo. (Sophie Bonomi / Herald)