Washington new business openings in September 2026, by the numbers

This is the first monthly count from The Morning Sheet. Every figure below comes from a query against our database of Washington public records, run on October 8, 2026. We publish the definitions so the numbers can be checked, compared month to month, and quoted without guesswork.

What counts as a new business opening

A business counts for September 2026 when all three of these are true:

1. It is a Washington business in our lead feed, in either the food vertical (restaurants, cafes, bars, bakeries and similar) or the retail vertical.
2. Our scoring classifies it as a new opening: a brand-new business, a new location of an existing local operator, or a new location of a chain. Businesses that are already operating, changing owners, or adding a liquor privilege are left out.
3. Its earliest pre-opening filing is dated between September 1 and September 30, 2026. A pre-opening filing is a new business license, a liquor license application to the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, a health department plan review, or a building or trade permit for the space.

The date is the date on the filing itself, not the date we found it. Businesses whose first filing came in earlier months are counted in those months, even if their permit or license moved in September.

The core numbers

Source: The Morning Sheet, from Washington public records. Counted by the month of each business's earliest pre-opening filing. Data as of October 8, 2026.

102 food businesses statewide, up 24% from August. For a vendor, that is roughly three new food accounts entering the market every day across the state, each one choosing suppliers, a payment system, insurance and payroll for the first time.

94 of them were independents, up from 81. Independents pick their own vendors locally, so this is the number to plan outreach around; they account for 13 of the month's 20 extra openings.

8 were chain locations, up from 1 in August. A chain location usually buys through a national contract, so treat these as a lead for local services the contract does not cover, such as signs, cleaning or repair, rather than for the core supply deal.

Where the openings were

King County had 36 of the 102 (35%). King is still the biggest single market, and a rep covering it alone sees more than a third of the state's new food businesses. Our Seattle new business page lists the current ones.

Seattle alone had 24 (24%). No other city had more than 5. If your territory is one city, Seattle is where the volume is; everywhere else, plan on covering a county or a region to see a steady flow.

Snohomish County had 17, up from 13. Everett led the county with 5. Snohomish is the one county where we read health department plan reviews, which are filed weeks to months before opening, so these businesses reach a vendor earlier than most. See the Everett page for the live list.

Pierce County fell to 8, from 12. One month is a small sample; treat it as a quiet month in Pierce until October confirms it. The Tacoma page shows what is still building out there.

Spokane County rose to 9, from 3, and 3 of the 9 were chain locations. Spokane, Spokane Valley and Mead together are now a market worth a look for vendors in Eastern Washington.

32 openings came from 18 other counties. The September count spans 22 of Washington's 39 counties. Each of those counties produced one to three, which adds up for a vendor with a statewide route or a phone-based sale.

The top cities for new food businesses in September were Seattle (24), Everett (5), Spokane (4), then Bellevue, Bothell, Spokane Valley, Tacoma and Wenatchee with 3 each.

What they filed first

How a business first shows up tells you how early you are. Of the 102 September food openings, the first record we have was:

• A liquor license application: 65 (64%). Up from 45 in August.
• A new business license: 20 (20%). Down from 21 in August.
• A health department plan review: 10 (10%). Up from 7.
• A building or trade permit: 7 (7%). Down from 9.

Liquor applications lead because they are the one statewide filing. The Liquor and Cannabis Board publishes every new application in its local authority letters dataset, and by law it notifies the city or county, which gets 20 days to object (RCW 66.24.010). For a beverage distributor or a liquor liability insurer, a new application is a strong buying signal: the owner has committed to serving alcohol and has not opened yet.

Business licenses and plan reviews depend on where you sell. The 20 license-first openings came from city license data in Seattle, Tacoma, Bellevue, Everett and Moses Lake. The 10 plan reviews were all in Snohomish County. Outside those places, a business's first public trace is more often its liquor application, which usually comes after the build-out permits. Our restaurant opening timeline shows which vendor decisions are still open at each step.

Retail

18 new retail businesses in September, up from 11. King County had 11 of them. Retail is a smaller count because we only include a retail license once there is evidence of a storefront; home-based online sellers are filtered out. 7 of the 18 first appeared through the Liquor and Cannabis Board, mostly as tobacco and vapor retailer endorsements, which are tied to a physical shop. For a vendor who sells fixtures, signs, point-of-sale or security to stores, that is a short list worth calling in full.

How to read these numbers

September will move up a little. The median September filing reached our feed 10 days after its filing date, and liquor applications post to the state dataset on a delay. Some September businesses had not been published by October 8. We will restate September next month next to the October count.

Coverage differs by county. A county with city license data or a plan review feed shows businesses earlier and in greater number than one where the liquor board is the only source. Compare a county with itself month to month, not with its neighbor.

A chain location is a new site of a known brand. Our scoring marks it; store count alone does not. A local operator opening a second spot counts as an independent: 16 of September's food openings were second locations, down from 24 in August.

The next report covers October 2026 and publishes in early November.