Desert Gem gets temporary home after fire + New ‘rage room’ for venting your anger

After a devastating fire forced Desert Gem and Appraisal to close its storefront last month, the long-time jewelry shop has found a temporary home.

“JD’s Time Center is allowing us to use a little space there to meet up with some clients on an appointment basis,” owner Dennis Schoeneberg told the Tri-City Herald.

He said Desert Gem’s clients can call 509-582-7700 or email desertgemappraisal@gmail.com to set up an appointment.

Schoeneberg said they hope to be able to get back into their repaired store within 4 to 6 weeks.

Before they’re able to, contractors will need to finish reinforcing the second-story walls of the Cascade Building, at 304 W. Kennewick Ave.

Desert Gem is within the “fall zone” of the wall if it were to collapse.

Foster Thrift

Foster Thrift had its grand opening March 17.

The new thrift store, run by Foster First child placement agency, is taking over the old Goodwill near Kennewick High School, at 810 S. Dayton St.

Director of Community Engagement Venus Lomeli said the store will be a resource for foster families. It will help raise money for families to go to camps, help with birthdays, buy school supplies and more.

Lomeli said many foster parents are not wealthy, so the store will help these families afford activities such as school sports and other after school activities, in addition to helping foster parents with special occasions.

Foster First is based out of Yakima, but will be opening a local office in Foster Thrift.

Take A Break

Having a bad week? This new Tri-Cities business might have a solution for you.

Take A Break, which opened in December, is a “rage room” that lets you, well, break things.

They offer traditional break rooms, where you can smash anything in the room, or splash rooms where you’re handed paint and the entire room is your canvas.

Sessions start at $35 per person and group discounts are available.

They even offer special rates for work parties. Take A Break is at 309 W. Kennewick Ave in downtown Kennewick.

This story was originally published March 17, 2022 at 5:00 AM.

Cory McCoy

Tri-City Herald

Cory is an award-winning investigative reporter. He joined the Tri-City Herald in Dec. 2021 as an Editor/Reporter covering social accountability issues. His past work can be found in the Tyler Morning Telegraph and other Texas newspapers. He was a 2019-20 Education Writers Association Fellow, and has been featured on The Murder Tapes, Grave Mysteries and Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen.