The tough economy continues to lead people to make all kinds of creative choices. Case in point: Savour, a gourmet food shop soon to open at 2242 N.W. Market Street in Ballard. It’s the brainchild of Holly McLean, whose 23-year career in corporate travel ended (at least temporarily) when Expedia laid her off in January. After three months of fruitless job-hunting, she decided to become an entrepreneur. Retail is already in McLean’s blood; her grandfather opened a Port Angeles shoe store in 1939. She remembers spending evenings playing in the racks with her siblings as her parents worked the shop. Savour will combine her two affinities. McLean plans to travel for such exotic condiments as Italian pomodori secchi (a spread of dried tomatoes, which she describes as a sort of tomato tapenade – though she’s already found an importer for this item ) and Baccolone charcuterie from San Francisco, which she says no one else in Seattle carries. She’ll stock local cheeses from Quillisascut Farms, Sammish Bay Cheese, and River Valley Cheese, labels which are hard to come by outside of farmers markets. McLean hopes to be open by the second week of November, but things are taking longer than expected. In addition to the usual permit-approval delays, McLean said some of the build-out has been complicated. “The most surprising thing about opening a food shop has been how many sinks the city/county requires to outfit the kitchen,” she says. “We are required to have four different types of sinks to accommodate all aspects of sanitization, washing, and food preparation–as well as a commercial dishwasher.”