Dave Kester

Dave was a CPA for many years and a stockbroker after that, he became tired of sitting behind a desk, and tired of the bigger city so he pursued looking for opportunities in smaller communities, happened to run into a business here in Tonasket and the individual who owned it had been wanting to sell it. They got together and made the arrangements, it just fell together. Dave chose to keep the business name the same in order to keep the name recognition for the local communtiy. "It is important to people in a small community that you don' t have somebody come in and change everything and tell them how to run their life. It won' t happen". Dave chose to stay with what works, and has been here for years and years. This is the 100th anniversary for the store. It was started in 1920 by Lee Frank.

Dave suggests "if somebody wanted to move in here and become involved in retail, I would say don' t come in and expect to change the world, but do expect to come in and provide good service and good products to the local community". They didn' t do anything different from the previous owners except for expanding. They expanded sporting goods simply because there was a need. They expanded appliances because there was a need. They expanded canning, because there was a need. They just kind of figured out what the community was looking for and what they could offer them, and they expanded in to those areas that were beneficial.

In Dave's spare time he enjoys recreating with his grand kids (he recently built them a go-cart), fishing, canning and working on community projects. Dave was highly involved in a community of 150k-250k where he used to live and was highly involved in the chamber of commerce and group there, and brought that experience here, "I don' t like going to meetings I'd rather be doing the physical part of that, let the group go and raise the money, organize it, and I' ll go do it".

"If you' re unhappy where you are, we welcome you here, but please don' t bring the ideas here that made you unhappy where you came from. Give us a shot. Come look at us. Come recreate. Give one of us a call. Come take a look around".

Opportunity Tonasket

It' s a lifestyle choice

"You only get to do this life once, so let' s make it count"

EMAIL: opportunitytonasket@gmail.com

(509) 322-3330 Office
Dave Kester

Opportunity Tonasket can:

Help you find a home, land and office space

We can help you locate available real property for purchase, lease and/or development. Bare land and buildings already zoned commercial. Utilities, water, and power hookups are generally easy access. Many locations are close to town and other businesses. Please contact a local realtor or any of us on the board for guidance locating a realtor or property owner.

Plug you into the right connections to aid in a smooth relocation

Tonasket provides a great number of services or products for the population in a small community setting. People can purchase everything they would ordinarily use in Tonasket without having to travel out of town, unless they want something more elaborate or fancy, they may need to travel or go online.

Help you with integration into the community

If your business is planning to service the locals, you will find a great deal of support and loyalty from local people who love to spend their money locally.

In Tonasket you can park in town; get your prescription drugs, your groceries, you can walk half a block to get your mail, your banking, you can go grab lunch and not have to find another parking spot for that day.

Accelerate new and existing small business

Community members stand by to assist and expedite new businesses wanting to relocate through the planning and permitting processess and working with the local goverment. Tonasket has a substantial workforce available.

Guide you through the available infrastructure

If you are shipping out of the area, we have UPS and FedEx on a daily basis. We also have a shipping truck service that comes out of Spokane/Wenatchee for larger items or pallets.

Connect you with local government agencies and small businesses to help you with your needs

A special committee is set up consisting of various community members having experience in real estate, law, agriculture and business ownership to assist with a new business or relocation.

Let you relax

All roads lead to Tonasket! Tonasket is laid back easy living, with activity from the schools, sports, swimming pool, and small town stuff for people to do. You can fill your time with rural activities like fishing, hunting, hiking, boating, etc... We can help people who want to vacation. There's some traffic down the middle of town, that's by design, so people stop; and we have recently paved our airport which is 5 minutes away.

Our primary mission is to promote economic development and growth in the city of Tonasket and surrounding area. We are a group of local citizens sharing a common goal. We wish to assist and promote existing businesses wishing to relocate, local businesses wishing to expand, and local individuals wanting to start a business. Preserving and enhancing the small town and rural lifestyle in a way which benefits everybody and maintains a healthy lifestyle.

Opportunity Tonasket was created to be a hub for information and contacts with local city and county agencies, as well as local businesses and real estate connections. Their goal is to connect current and newly relocated individuals and businesses and "plug them in" with the best services, advice and experts in the area. Opportunity Tonasket is like a leg-up, as if one already has a foothold in the community.

Together with several lifetimes of experience and family roots in the area, Opportunity Tonasket was formed as a result of local individuals and business professionals passionate to preserve and improve Tonasket and the surrounding areas. We are a non-government entity and are not tied to any particular city or county government or chamber of commerce. We pride ourselves as a civic-minded bunch, not hard-core business people, at the heart of the community, who want to see it grow and thrive.

In Tonsket our economy is stable, we create our own economic environment. If you want to have a place to grow up or raise your kids, this would be a good community, a good strong community, a healthy community, active in the schools, wrestling, basketball, and football. A lot of close towns that we compete with on a friendly basis, include Oroville, Brewster, Bridgeport, it is just a very tight-knit community. If you want to become active in the agricultural, we have FFA programs, so that even a city kid can learn a little bit about agriculture in farming/orchards and ranching. There are numerous branches of churches and religious services available. Tonasket has a strong spiritual communty.

In Tonasket you can go to Canada for dinner and be home the same night; you can go to the coast for the weekend and come back. You can stay here and go fishing, boating, waterskiing, you can go to Canada skiing in the winter time, you can go to Idaho snow skiing and be home that night, or that weekend make a 2 day trip out of it, we are very close to a lot of recreational opportunities. Tonasket serves a resource based economy, which if your familiar with how they classify businesses with would be called a primary, Tonasket derives its income from natural resources. Which includes mining, forestry agriculture, fishing and the like. And that's our base.

People come to Tonasket to enjoy a more sustainable lifestyle.

Read an article about Opportunity Tonasket
in Manufacturing Tomorrow, An Online Trade Magazine

Chance Stucker
Owner: Tonasket Tire

Why did I open a business in Tonasket? Many reasons – first Tonasket is home and I want to be able to make a living and raise my family here. I was born and raised in the Tonasket area. Went to school here (homeschool & public school). Our community is our family. Went off to college for a short time to become a Farrier. Came home from college and have built up a good business shoeing horses. But horse shoeing is hard on your body and not a forever job. There has been a need for a tire shop in Tonasket for a long time. I believed a tire shop would be sustainable in Tonasket so with the support of my family & community I opened shop June 17th, 2020.

Mike & Stephanie Steinman
Owners: Lakeside Pharmacy & Whitestone Pharmacy

We moved to Tonasket in 2015 with the hopes of purchasing the local pharmacy. At that time, Mike had been a pharmacist for 15 years and was burned out working for corporate pharmacies. He found an opportunity with an independent pharmacy in Tonasket and after several visits, we decided to move our family here. We love living in a small town and Mike loves practicing pharmacy in an independent pharmacy. Everyone knows one another and our community steps up to help people out when needed. As healthcare providers, we really felt like we could make a difference here and it has brought us both back to the reasons we became healthcare professionals in the first place - we wanted to make a difference and help people.

We did not reach an agreement with the owners of the local pharmacy in 2015, however, a few years after we moved here Tonasket found itself without a pharmacy and we decided to open a new pharmacy in town. We knew that a pharmacy is a vital piece of a small town and our town needed a pharmacy to help keep people shopping local and to make sure our neighbors could get the care they needed close to home. We now own two pharmacies in North Okanogan County and love this area. There have been many times that we've wished we would have moved here sooner, but now that we are here we plan on staying here for many years to come!

P1FCU

Tonasket is a great place for P1FCU to be because it is a rural, small, and close knit community. When the community has a need or a tragedy everyone works together for the best interests of the town. Members of the community in Tonasket genuinely care about each other much like P1FCU cares about its members.

Korie Johansen
Owner: Beanadiction, LLC

Hello, My name is Korie Johansen and I am the owner/operator of Beanadiction, LLC, a quaint little coffee shop. I was recently asked why I chose to open a business here in Tonasket. Here is our story.

My husband and I moved here about ten years ago. We both work in the medical field and that is what brought us to the area. We didn't come from far away, just south, down the road a bit. I grew up in a small town in Washington State not far from here and love the small community aspect. I think there is something to be said for knowing your neighbor and watching out for one another. And your children growing up with friends they can play with in the dirt.

We plan on being here for the duration. We love our home and space. We have younger children that are in this school system. They are involved in sports and activities. And we want to see them grow up with a tight knit community and friends. The saying goes-It takes a village to raise a child.

We chose to open a business here in Tonasket because we want our roots here. We want to see our town thrive but in keeping the small town charm. It' s like the old show Cheers, ' you wanna go where everyone knows your name'. We wanted to be a part of our community and know one another as individuals, not just a car driving by. We wanted to have a place for people to come and enjoy one another or have quiet reflexion time. We wanted it to be a safe place for children and comfortable for the elderly. And we wanted to be able to give back to our community as much as possible.

So, by opening a business locally, we can support locally. We shop here and support other small business here, so that helps keep revenue in our own town. I think that it is important for local businesses to support one another and help each other out. When times get tough, I feel it's easier if we can all lean on one another and not deal with things by ourselves.

Dave Kester
Owner: Lee Franks Merchantile

My name is Dave Kester. I pursued locating a hardware store to purchase in early 1990' s. Some of the criteria was a small agricultural town. I preferred one 25 to 50 miles from larger communities that may have box stores. I wanted an area rich in small town closeness with a strong community commitment. The community had a number of parks, a swimming pool, little league and soccer fields. The high school athletic department had all the major sport teams. The community boasted of many local activities and groups such as the FFA, rodeo club and arena, demolition derby, and the founder day activities to name a few. It took little time to find someone willing to talk about this community. Everyone that opened up to me had an extremely high regard for Tonasket, Washington.

I took a drive around the area admiring the scenery. Agriculture appeared to be strong. There were many lakes and I enjoy fishing. The area appeared as if there was abundant game for hunting. What was I missing? It didn' t take long to grow on me.

The hardware business appealed to me. This business had done well for the Frank family. It fit the mold I had in my head. After 25 years now I don' t regret moving here. That business has served me and my family well. You have to enjoy the positive aspects of a small town and learn to live with its slower pace of life.

Dave Hanna

Dave Kester

Roger Castelda

Jeff McMillan

George Frank

Help you find a home, land and office space

Plug you into the right connections to aid in a smooth relocation

Help you with integration into the community

Accelerate new and existing small business

Guide you through the available infrastructure

Connect you with local government agencies and small businesses to help you with your needs

Let you relax

Contact Us
We'd love to hear from you

Dave Hanna

Dave Kester

Roger Castelda

Jeff McMillan

George Frank

Help you find a home, land and office space

Plug you into the right connections to aid in a smooth relocation

Help you with integration into the community

Accelerate new and existing small business

Guide you through the available infrastructure

Connect you with local government agencies and small businesses to help you with your needs

Let you relax

Contact Us We'd love to hear from you

Contact Us
We'd love to hear from you