Every New Local Spot in Battle Ground This Year Took Over a Room a Local Business Already Filled

The sandwiches at The Savvy Sipper are made with bread from Al & Ernie's Bakery Cafe, a short walk away. The lounge is in the former Emanar Cellars at 113 SE Rasmussen Blvd. Co-owner Keary Niarkos worked there for three years before buying the business, after retiring owners Richard and Mar Meyerhoefer asked her, "What if you bought this place?" The wine is still poured into glasses bought from the old winery.

That detail sums up how Battle Ground's dining scene grew in 2026. The independents opening this year moved into spaces the town already knew, often with ties to the business that was there before. The national chains are going into new construction or space that has never had a tenant, mostly on the west side along Scotton Way and West Main Street. The two groups also run on different timelines, which is useful to know when you're deciding where to go this fall and what to wait for.

The east side: a lounge, a creamery and a bakery

Look at the three independent openings and expansions of 2026 together and the pattern is clear.

The Savvy Sipper opened quietly in spring and held its official ribbon cutting with the Greater Vancouver Chamber on June 11. The drinks list leans local: beer from Everybody's Brewing and Barrel Mountain, and spirits from Vancouver-based Quartz Mountain. The food menu covers sandwiches, salads, charcuterie and small plates. In June the Reflector listed evening hours Wednesday through Saturday. Check before you go, since hours set at opening often change by fall.

Pink Cloud Creamery opened June 5 at 602 E. Main St., inside Pacificly You, a Main Street boutique owned by manager Louise Cichosz's sister, Heidi. The boutique marked its sixth anniversary in September. The Reflector calls it Battle Ground's only brick-and-mortar ice cream shop. It scoops Cascade Glacier ice cream. Cotton candy is the top seller, and licorice has a following of its own. Since this is its first autumn, pumpkin is on the specials menu and hot apple cider is kept warm behind the counter.

Al & Ernie's in the Village is the latest. On September 30, Clark County Today reported that the Main Street bakery leased the 940-square-foot space at 802 SE 14th Place in Battle Ground Village. Blue Castle Coffee ran a coffee shop there until August, when it chose not to renew its lease. Remodeling starts in late 2026, with an opening expected in early 2027.

"A second location allows us to serve the community through an intimate location, while ensuring that Battle Ground Village maintains a coffee shop for residents, employers and guests." Devin Bowen, general manager, Al & Ernie's Bakery Cafe

The scale explains the second location. Clark County Today says the original Al & Ernie's opened in 2024, serves 5,000 to 6,000 customers a week, and had sold close to 40,000 cinnamon rolls in 2026 as of late September. The Village shop will be about a third the size of the original. It will sell a limited selection of baked goods with espresso, coffee and tea. Biscuits and gravy, the bagel sandwiches and the soup-and-sandwich lunch menu will stay at the Main Street location.

The new shop is the fourth business from the Battle Ground Hospitality Collective, owned by brothers Camden and Mac Spiller. The other three are the original Al & Ernie's, the Battle Ground Farmer's Market and Tuke's Public House & Garden.

All three moves put a new owner or concept into a space that already had local regulars. For an evening out, that means the east-side options are open now, and the one still in progress has a firm opening window.

The west side: new buildings and long-empty spaces

The west side has more projects underway, and the space they're going into is a different kind. Here is where each stood in the most recent reporting this research found. For most of them, that is the Reflector's August 11 roundup.

IHOP is the only one on that list you can visit now. IHOP's location page lists the Scotton Way restaurant with hours starting at 6 a.m. and dine-in and ordering options. This spring, a "for lease" sign on the building led to online speculation that IHOP had dropped its plans. In April, a representative for the property owner confirmed that the restaurant was still coming. The lease sign was for a separate, smaller space in the same building. It roughly matches the square footage proposed for a Super Chix in 2024 site plans, and the owner's representative said that project is "up in the air."

According to the Reflector, Muchas Gracias plans to use the existing drive-thru, and its plans list occupancy for 39 people. In August the Reflector found no website, social media account or public contact for Camp Donut. At that time, Wingstop's corporate site didn't list Battle Ground as coming soon either. No later update on any of the three turned up. Treat them as still pending until the doors open.

West Main Commons runs on a construction schedule

The largest piece of the west-side buildout is West Main Commons, at 1305 W. Main St. near Southwest 13th Avenue. The plan is four retail buildings totaling nearly 28,000 square feet, linked by a public promenade to a 225-unit apartment community.

In June, Nick Stanton of NAI Elliott, the project's leasing agent, told the Reflector that leases were signed with Brewed Awakenings, OnPoint Credit Union, Edward Jones, Barbie Lounge and a ramen restaurant whose name hasn't been released. Stanton said leasing was still underway for restaurant, retail and service spaces. Renderings also show a possible pizza restaurant. The first retail spaces are scheduled for delivery by the end of 2026.

Brewed Awakenings announced on social media that its café will open in January 2027. The company called Battle Ground "one of our most requested locations for years." Its own location page still says "Coming Soon."

So Battle Ground will get two new coffee options at roughly the same time from opposite ends of town. Al & Ernie's is due on the east side in early 2027, and Brewed Awakenings on the west side in January 2027. One is a small Village shop from a team already busy on Main Street. The other is a regional roaster's café in a brand-new promenade building.

What's on the calendar while the west side builds

All of this fall's city and community events are on the east side of downtown, at the Battle Ground Event Center, 912 E. Main St. That puts them a short drive or walk from Pink Cloud, The Savvy Sipper and the original Al & Ernie's.

1. Howl-O-Ween: Pooch Parade, Wednesday, October 14, 6 to 7 p.m. Entry is $10 per dog, and pre-registration must be completed by midnight Sunday, October 11. The first 30 dogs registered get a treat bag. Spectators get in free, with doors opening at 5:30. Prizes include Best in Show, Most Unique, Best Dog/Human Duo, Parks & Rec Choice and People's Choice.
2. Battle Ground Boo Bash, Friday, October 30, 3 to 6 p.m. Free, with a Candy Carnival and trunk-or-treat.
3. Early Bird Holiday Bazaar, Friday, November 6, 2 to 7 p.m., and Saturday, November 7, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free admission.

If you're planning a Pooch Parade evening on October 14, the event ends at 7 p.m. and The Savvy Sipper's June hours ran until 9 on Wednesdays. Pink Cloud's pumpkin special and cider fit the Boo Bash afternoon. On the west side, IHOP is the only spot with an open dining room for now. Muchas Gracias, Wingstop and Camp Donut could open on short notice whenever their remodels finish. The West Main Commons tenants are working toward a first wave of openings around January.

Restaurants, coffee shops and walkable retail affect how buyers see the streets nearby, and in Battle Ground that changes from block to block as West Main Commons and the Scotton Way spaces fill in. If you own a home on either side of town and want to know how these changes might affect your property's value, Dawn Jensen-Beaudoin can walk you through a free home valuation based on what is actually opening near you.