Graysen Golter
Graysen Golter covers the business of everyday retail and dining, focusing on openings, closings and consumer trends across the Lehigh Valley for The Morning Call. Their reporting turns small shifts in storefronts, restaurants and national chains into clear, practical information about where people shop, eat and find local deals. They has reported for The Morning Call since 2022 and now concentrates on retail and restaurant coverage as a core business beat.
Retail Watch and local storefronts
Golter’s signature work runs through the Retail Watch column, which consistently highlights new and notable spots such as ice cream shops, specialty drink vendors and restaurants around the Lehigh Valley.
The column presents retail news in a straightforward format, often centering a single business while weaving in brief items on other openings, renovations or policy moves affecting nearby storefronts. Recent Retail Watch pieces have introduced readers to a new restaurant offering authentic Puerto Rican cuisine and a vendor selling “dirty sodas,” pairing description of the concept with concrete details on hours, location and menu.
Across these columns, Golter emphasizes what customers can expect when they visit, including the type of experience, price point signals and how a new business fits into the surrounding commercial corridor.
Restaurants, food trucks and markets
Beyond the column, Golter regularly reports on restaurants, food trucks and markets that mark shifts in the region’s dining landscape. Coverage of U-MAC Tavern at the former Sunset Grille property follows the project from lease signing through planned opening, explaining the blend of European café culture and American dining the owners aim to bring to the space.
Reporting on J’s Steaks & Subs tracks the transition from a long-standing brick-and-mortar shop to a new food truck, documenting how the next generation of the business will operate at a local brewery taproom. When Ahart’s Market decides to close its final Lehigh Valley location after product losses from a power outage, Golter details the financial hit, timeline for closure and the impact on grocery options in the area.
These pieces share a consistent approach: they foreground owners’ plans and challenges, specify addresses and operating hours, and spell out how each change affects regular customers.
National chains and consumer deals
Golter also tracks the movement of national brands into and within the Lehigh Valley, treating large chains as part of the same everyday business ecosystem as independent shops. Stories on Lucky Brand’s return to the Lehigh Valley Mall explain where the store sits within the mall and what kind of clothing and accessories it brings back to the market.
Coverage of the sneakers and streetwear chain SNIPES lays out its planned new stores in Allentown and Bethlehem, noting the product mix and locations in local shopping centers. Reporting on Tesla’s new electric vehicle service center walks through where the facility is located, the status of its opening and the operating hours for sales and service, making a national brand’s logistics legible to nearby drivers.
Golter’s business beat extends into consumer promotions, such as free gift cards at a newly opened Dollar General and coffee deals tied to National Coffee Day, with stories that spell out what offers are available, when they run and which outlets participate.
Broader local coverage
While retail and restaurants dominate Golter’s recent work, they occasionally step outside the business beat for concise coverage of local conditions. A forecast on a nor’easter bringing rain and wind to Allentown, for example, delivers a quick snapshot of expected weather, timing and potential effects.
This occasional general assignment work sits alongside the core focus on commerce, reinforcing a familiarity with how business activity intersects with daily life in the region.
Geography and reporting style
Golter’s stories trace a wide geographic circuit through the Lehigh Valley, following businesses in Bath, Emmaus, Upper Macungie Township, Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton.
Articles rely on clear, unadorned language, with short paragraphs that prioritize who is opening or closing, where, when and what customers will find. Whether writing a column or a straight news brief, Golter tends to include direct quotes from owners or managers, grounding each development in the decisions and experiences of people running the businesses.
The result is coverage that distinguishes itself from generic business reporting by its tight focus on concrete retail and dining changes, its consistent attention to practical details, and its habit of linking individual storefront news to the broader pattern of how and where people spend money in the Lehigh Valley.
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