Grapevine Discounts goes national

Last year Spokane business owner Monte Tareski's Spokanegrapevine.com expanded their offerings by creating a discount card program to use to get discounts in the Greater Spokane area and to create a fundraising option for schools and non-profits alike by allowing them to sell the discount cards.Now that concept has really caught on and will be expanded this time nationally thru a new company name, Grapevinediscounts.com The Grapevine Discount's card is a tool to promote "buy local" firms and get the word out for small businesses.The grapevinediscounts.com concept is already online for Tallahassee,Fl and Tuscon,Az but the owners plan rapid expansion with the website soon coming online for Maui,The Twin Cities and Miami and on from there.For more on this program visit them directly at http://www.grapevinediscounts.com

Local Business News Update:Mar 29th 2012

In the Spokane area...

Holy Cross Lutheran Church is expanding.The church is adding 10,000 sq. feet of new space on to the existing building located at 7307 N Nevada in Spokane.The new addition will feature classrooms and new fellowship hall.

The Chevron gas station on US 395 in Deer Park is closing.

Bruchi's Cheesesteaks and Subs and Senor Froggy Mexican Resturants have expanded their offerings by opening a new brand to add on to their fast casual restaurants.The new brand is Italian Express which will as the name imply's will offer fast Italian foods.Currently the brand will be in their locations at 1918 N Division and 10521 E. Sprague in Spokane Valley.

The On  Sacred Ground Coffee Shop recently expanded their coffee shop which can be found in the tiny town of Valleyford directly south of Spokane Valley.The new addition offers more space for meetings and is about 1400 sq feet.

The Kalispel Tribe of Indians is building a new visitor center for the users of the Selkirk Scenic Loop.The new visitor center will be on Hwy 20 just north of Cusick.

The new 2nd location for Stop n' Go Drive Inn is now open.The drive has been at 6505 E Sprague Ave in Spokane valley and this new location is at 6325 N Wall in North Spokane.Stop n' Go offers all the normal drive in foods and does not take credit cards so bring cash if you check them out.

In the Coeur d Alene and North Idaho area...

If you need a Taylor then today is your lucky day as Alterations Express is opening in the Ironwood Square Shopping Center in Coeur d Alene.The plaza is at the corner of Lincoln(US 95) and Ironwood.

Also opening soon in the Ironwood Square Shopping Center will be a new eatery called New York Bagels.The new bagel shop is just 2 doors down from the for mentioned Alterations Express in a former loan shop's space.

Tomlinson Soleby's has moved their real estate office into space in Downtown Coeur d Alene directly on Sherman Ave. The space was last the Resort Properties on the Lake real estate office.

The Bonner Community Food Center has a new home in Sandpoint.The food bank is now located at 1707 Culvers Dr. by the UPS Distribution Center.

AmericanWest Bank acquires Security Business Bank

In a move that brings Spokane based AmericanWest Bank even farther into the Southern California banking market ,AmericanWest will acquire the bank, Security Business Bank. Security Business Bank is a financial institution based in San Diego,Ca. and operates 4 branches all of which are in the San Diego area. AmericanWest which currently already has a total of over 70 branches in 4 western states will pay about 26 million dollars to acquire Security Business Bank. This is the second acquisition for AmericanWest Bank in recent days as AmericanWest paid out 7.2 million dollars late last year to acquire the Puget Sound regional bank,Viking Bank and it's 7 branches. 

Local resturant news update:Mar. 28th

The owners of Coeur d' Alene Brewing Co. which had to close last year when their building's landlord didn't renew their lease have re-formed and will open another Brewery this time is Spokane.The new brewery will be called River City Brewing and will be located at 1325 W. 1st Ave on the west side of Downtown Spokane.The beers from River City Brewing will be available at a few locations but unfortunately not directly from River City as the Brewery will not feature a tap room or pub attached.

Coeur d Alene will soon have a new style of restaurant that is part of a rapidly growing food trend,Grilled Cheese.The new grilled cheese restaurant called Meltz Extreme Grilled Cheese will open soon in the same building as the Fairway Gas and Grocery Conoco station on Kathleen Ave and nearby Ramsey Rd.Meltz's space is the former site of Lil' Polpetta.

The cupcake bakery, The Parisian Cupcake which has been on the South Hill of Spokane at 2403 S. Grand Blvd. is closing.

The gay bar called The Holly Rock has also closed.The bar had been in Spokane Valley by U-City at the corner of Raymond and Sprague Ave.

Company Profile: Seltice Thrift

Today's company profile is of Seltice Thrift located at 2785 W. Seltice Way near the Idaho Iron Gym on the west end of Post Falls. Seltice Thrift is a small locally owned and operated thrift and collectibles store with something very unique of the thrift stores in the Inland Northwest,A community clothing table with all shapes and sizes from kids clothing to adult clothing where any customer just needs to re-donate clothing back to their clothing bank to receive clothing.Shopping at Seltice Thrift is a great way to practice buying local,which is a great way to help local people make it today's economy. For more info on this great small thrift store visit and like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/selticethrift

If you'd like your local business profiled on Inland Northwest Business Watch e-mail me at: inlandbusiness@yahoo.com

Spokane Tribe's Casino Proposal

If you follow the local news in Spokane lately you have surely heard by now that the Spokane Tribe of Indians has proposed a large new casino and mixed use development on land the Tribe owns at Hwy 2 and Craig Rd in Airway Heights and close by the main gate for the Fairchild Air Force Base.The casino is hot button issue for many with some being concerned that an off-reservation casino is not needed and that it is too close to Fairchild which could bring about gambling issues as well such a large scale project being possibly in a crash zone for the base,something that Fairchild has stepped up enforcement of in recent months.
But the Spokane Tribe of Indians has their valid reasons also why a casino in Airway Heights would be the answer.The Tribe has had long battles with high unemployment on the their reservation which is to the northwest of the Spokane Metro Area.The tribe also notes that since the opening of the hotel and expansion at the nearby Northern Quest Resort and Casino(owned by the Kalispel Tribe) the  revenues have dropped by large amounts at the 2 small casino's the Spokane's already own and operate which are the Two Rivers in near Davenport and the Chewelah Casino in Chewelah .
And that's just the tip of the iceberg so as you can see this issue won't be going away anytime soon so it I figured now is a good time to take a look at what all is being planned for the site in Airway Heights.The Spokane Tribe says the development will create 3800 new jobs on a 50 million dollar payroll.Some of those proposed jobs will be in the main casino which is to be in the center of the site,also attached to the main casino is a shopping center like area,convention space and a hotel tower.Parking is provided on many surface parking areas on all 4 sides of the building but also in a parking garage which will go in on the west side of the main casino building.Inside the main building will also be a spa and a variety of restaurants.
Heading away from the main large casino will be the Spokofuel gas station which is already open and an Arby's restaurant owned by the Tribe which will open this year next door to Spokofuel.Also nearby Spokofuel is more retail space with 3 pad sites and a space for a big box retailer,behind the casino is more commercial land and space donated to the City of Airway Heights for a new fire and police station.And last but not least a Tribal Cultural Center on the Northwest side of the site by a small lake.It's easy to see that this project one of Spokane's largest and very controversial,recently the Tribe presented the environmental findings for the project and that  report can be found at http://www.westplainseis.com while on the West Plains EIS site one can also put in a comment and view photos and maps of the site,Another good reference for more on this issue check out http://www.stepspokane.com
This proposed casino and commercial development is something to watch,let Inland Northwest Business Watch know what you think by commenting on our Facebook page at..... http://www.facebook.com/inlandnorthwestbusinesswatch

New Northwest Christian School is now open

Due to lack of space the Northwest Christian School has been operating out of 2 separate school campuses for  quite some time now.But not any more as the private religious based school has completed work on the their new combined school located on Bernhill Rd. in the town of Colbert just north of Spokane.Classes at the new school will begin April 9th and community celebration is scheduled for May 12th from 2-5pm.The new Northwest Christian School building offers 60,000 sq feet of space and features a total of 23 classrooms,a library,band rooms a new large high school gym.

Ulta is coming to Coeur d Alene

The space at 450 W. Wilbur Ave. in Coeur d Alene that once housed the Coeur d Alene Borders Bookstore and most recently the seasonal Spirit Halloween store isn't staying empty long which is good news for the mid-size retail anchor space on Coeur d Alene's north side.The space will become a new Ulta Beauty store,Ulta which already has a location open in the Northtown Square Shopping Center in Spokane is a superstore of cosmetics,purfumes and other beauty products.Ulta's stores also feature a in store hair salon called Ulta Salon which i'm sure the Coeur d Alene location will be no different.The new Coeur d Alene Ulta store will open later this year as construction crews are already working on doing a full remodel of the former Border's store,Keep watching Inland Northwest Business Watch for this new stores opening date....

Inlander's Best of the Inland Northwest 2012

The most anticipated copy of the Spokane's The Inlander newspaper is on racks now.For the full list of all the best of's including best pizza,best mall,best food cart etc... visit www.inlander.com .
But here are just a couple I figured the INBW readers might want to know about...
Best new restaurant...
1. Manito Tap House
2.The Saranac Public House
North Idaho's Best:The Grille from Ipanama

Best new business...
1.Trader Joe's
2.Sweet Frostings
3.Global Neighborhood Thrift Store

Local business news update:Mar 26th 2012

In the Spokane area....

The Spokane Public Market in Downtown Spokane has a new food vendor.That new vendor is Lylo's Teryaki 


Clear Channel Spokane has launched their newest radio station called 96.1 Hits Fm and it replaced country formatted radio station Kix 96 FM.The all new 96.1 Hits Fm features adult contemporary/top-40 music.

The visitor info magazine,The Essential Guide is expanding into the Spokane market and will have a magazine for the Spokane area soon.The Essential Guide is already available in the Walla Walla market.

In the Coeur d Alene and North Idaho area...

Sylvan Learning Center is opening a new location in Coeur d Alene.The Coeur d Alene Sylvan Learning Center will open soon in the Sunset Shopping Center at Sunset and Hwy 95 across from Fred Meyer.Sylvan already has a location in Post Falls which will stay open.

Moving out of the Sunset Plaza for the large Prairie Shopping Center in Hayden is the Coeur d Alene office of Weight Watchers.The new address for the Coeur d Alene Weight Watchers is 81 W. Prairie Shopping Center

And on a sad note after 34 years in business the Sagle Flea Market on US 95 in Sagle is closing.

New resturants coming to Gonzaga's neighboorhood

Last year the building that housed David's Pizza which had been a favorite pizza place for many in Spokane was torn down to make way for a new multi-tenant strip mall style building.While the day David's Pizza closed wasn't a bright spot for the community it is now safe to say the grass may be greener on the other side of this fence,as I reported on this blog earlyer David's Pizza now will be moving into a new fully remodeled location in the old hostess factory at 803 N Post near Spokane Arena and really not far away from their old Gonzaga University area home. And now a quick search of Washington State's liquor and beer and wine licences show the new building on David's old site will house several new and exciting resturants.The building which is at 829 E. Boone Ave has licences now for the following...

1.Loco Dogz in suite C,Loco Dogz is a custom hot dog resturant which some might know from their other resturant near Eastern Washington University in Cheney. For info on Loco Dogz visit www.loco-dogz.com

2.Bruchi's Cheesesteaks and Subs in Suite E. Bruchi's is locally based cheesesteak resturaunt and one of the main sponsors every year of Hoopfest.Bruchi's has a few other locations elsewhere in Spokane including the Northtown Mall food court.

3.Pizza Oven in suite B .The Pizza Oven is chain pizza resturant which came to Spokane just last year with their first location being inside the food court of River Park Square in Downtown Spokane.

4.I cannot find the licence for it now but I have strong reason to belive a Noddles and Company will also becoming to Spokane in the area around Gonzaga perhaps even the 829 E. Boone Ave. building.I will post more on this soon if I can confirm it...

Local business news: March 22nd 2012

Note to regular readers of Inland Northwest Business Watch: To make my blog posts more noticeable in web searches I have changed the names of the update and resturant round-up feaures.From here on in watch for local business news and local resturant news posts for all the latest in local business news and info for the Spokane and Coeur d Alene area.

Here is today's business updates:
In the Spokane area...

A new re-sale clothing shop has opened in Spokane's Garland District.The new store is called Zipper'z and is located at 903 1/2 W. Garland Ave.

MMJ Collective is now in a new location in Spokane Valley.MMJ's new home is at 13519 E. Sprague Ave.

Bronzed Beans which is tanning and nail salon as well as a coffee shop has opened a second location in Spokane Valley.The new Bronzed Beans is now open at 7805 E. Sprague Ave close by Dishman Dodge.

The non-profit orginization Hearth Homes which is christian group providing transitional housing for those in need recently expanded by opening a new home in the Spokane Valley.

Southern Illinois University Carbondale will end their classes they had been offering on base at Fairchild Air Force base on the West Plains.The base still has classes on site from 4 other schools however.

In the Coeur d Alene and North Idaho area...

Sweetwater Bakery at 119 E. 3rd St. in Post Falls has closed their walk-in retail shop and will insted make their wholesale business their focus.Sweetwater Bakery has been primarly a wholesaler for some time selling to convence stores and institutions among others.

While it's been open for a little while now one of Coeur d Alene's newest coffee drive-thru's is Retro Shot Espresso. The drive thru is located at 6264 N Government Way less then a block south of Silver Lake Mall.

The American Acadamy of Nail Technolgies is changing it's name as well as adding cosmotolgy classes.The new school name will be The Acadamy of Cosmotolgy  and will stay in their current location of 1600 E. Seltice Way suite A across the road from the Post Falls Trading Co grocery store.

Kaiser Aluminum's Mead Smelter site sold

The massive vacant industral site that once housed the massive Kaiser Aluminum Company's Smelter in North Spokane at 2111 E. Hawthorne has now been sold.The buyer of the site is a company going be by New Mill Capital,LLC of New York state. New Mill Capital purchased the site for 1.5 million dollars and plans to develop the land into a large state of the art industral park.There is no word as of now on when construction might begin but New Mill Capital has pointed out they plan to reuse the large buildings on the site to sell to heavy industrial firms and sell off other parts of the vacant land and land that currently houses smaller buildings which they will demolish for new companies. The Mead Smelter site is 183 acres of land in all and is a prime location for such a venture with it's closeness to the new US 395/ North-South Freeway project which will provide a highway link to Canada and points both north and south of Spokane.While this project is clearly in it's early phases it will be exciting to watch as it has the potential to bring lot of jobs to Spokane.It should also be noted that the sale of the Mead Smelter only includes the Mead site and not the Trentwood works in Spokane Valley near Spokane Valley Mall where a project to clean up the enviromental damage is beginning.

Cafe Rio opening date

We now having an opening date for the new Coeur d Alene location of Cafe Rio Mexican Grill .The resturant will open on March 28th at 10:30am with a Coeur d Alene Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting at 10:00 am .The Coeur d Alene Cafe Rio location is in former Hollywood Video site facing US 95 and connected in with Fred Meyer. Cafe Rio Mexican Grill is resturant chain based in Cottonwood Heights,Utah and has a menu of mexican foods mostly from Northern Mexico.They have also been ranked as one of the fastest growing companies by both INC Magazine and Utah Business Mazagine.For more info on Cafe Rio's new Coeur d Alene location and the company itself visit www.caferio.com

Total Wine & More coming to Spokane

The rumors of new location of Total Wine & More in Spokane we're confirmed a couple of months ago when the large scale wine retailer announced they we're planning a store in Spokane but  never gave a location for their first store.I can now safly say that the new Total Wine & More will be located on the north side of Spokane at 9980 N Newport Hwy which appears to be the former North Spokane Borders bookstore near The Y. No word on when Total Wine & More might open in their new store in Spokane but they have applyed for liquor licence at the Newport Hwy location and most likly will only open after the new Washington State liquor privitzation laws go into effect in June.There is also no word on how many the new store might employ but when they do job info with Total Wine & More can be found on their website at www.totalwine.com .Total Wine & More is like a wine superstore but not just selling thousands of wines but also a large selection of beer and liquors.

Update Mar 19th 2012

In the Spokane area...

After a brief closure Wild Dawgs Hot Dogs has re-opened their resturant in Downtown Spokane at 102 N Howard St.

Skyline Flower Growers will soon be celebrating their grand opening in Spokane.The new flower business is located at 724 N Madelia St.

Southern Wine and Sprits of Washington has leased 26,000 sq feet of space for a new warehouse in building S25 of the Spokane Business and Industrial Park at 16005 E Euclid Ave in Spokane Valley.The new warehouse space will house the companies selection of alcholic beverages.

And while i'm on the topic of wine's,The Nectar Tasting Room in Downtown Spokane is expanding,The wine tasting business will take over about 1000 sq feet of the former LaunchpadINW space in their building at 120 N Stevens.

Trina'z Zumba is a new Zumba work-out studio now open in Spokane.Trina'z can be found at 520 S. Thor near the Freya Fred Meyer store.

CBR Medical which does herbal precriptions and recommendation has a new location.They can now be found at 11017 E. Sprague in Spokane Valley.

On the web...

A local Spokane area resident has launched a new website for musicians in all of the Northwest.The new website is named musiciansnw.com

In Coeur d' Alene/Post Falls and the rest of North Idaho...

Ellement Hair and Nail Salon which had been in the Whistle Stop strip mall on Seltice Way near Potlatch St. has moved into a bigger and newer space in the strip mall directly next door.The new location is the former home of The Hair Zoo and is by Upscale Mail.

Kathryn's Portriats is now open in Dalton Gardens near the Silver Lake Mall.The new business is located at 6680 N Government Way.

A new fitness facility is now open , The Gym is located in a former thrift store space at 1701 N 4th in Midtown Coeur d Alene.The Gym also offers personal trainers.

1st ever Spokane Bike Swap coming

Every year the Spokane Fair and Expo grounds on Havana St in Spokane Valley hosts several shows,trade shows and of course the Spokane International Fair in Sept will add one more big event to the schedule with the first annual Spokane Bike Swap, which is coming to Spokane this weekend March 24th and 25th in the Expo Annex A building.The Spokane Bike Swap is similar to the Mt. Spokane Ski Swap in the fall where private people and vendors come to sell their bicycles and bike related merchandise with such local bike vendors as WheelSport ,North Division Bike Shop, Fitness Fanatics, Northwest Recumbent Bicycles, Silver Bike Tours/ROW Adventures, Terra Sports, The Spokane Bicycle Club, Bicycle Butler, Cool Water Bikes, Pedals2People, Bikestyle Spokane and Spokefest. Also rounding out the vendors for the first Spokane Bike Swap vendors like Spokane Transit and 49 Degrees North Ski Area and many more.The Spokane Bike Swap is put on by all an volunteer group and the proceeds from the Bike Swap go towards The Friends of the Centennial Trail non-profit organization.For more info on this weekend's Spokane Bike Swap visit http://www.spokanebikeswap.com   .

Resturant Round-Up: March 15th 2012

Over the last few months of writing the Inland Northwest Business Watch blog (I started it in Sept of 2011) I've come to notice that resturants and food realted business news is one of the more popular topics on here so with that I'm creating this new feature,starting today and in a similar format to my update post will be resturant round-up's with all the restuaunt news I know going on in the Inland Northwest.And just as before if you know something I don't or just want to add your 2 cents e-mail me anytime at inlandbusiness@yahoo.com or post to the Inland Northwest Business Watch Facebook page.

Opening in mid-april will be a new second location of the Coeur d Alene favorite Roger's Ice Cream and Burgers which is now and will remain at 1224 E. Sherman Ave just a few blocks east of Downtown Coeur d Alene.The new Roger's will go by the name Roger's Burgers and will be open at 155 W. Neider Ave in the former site of Cafe Chulo which closed only earlyer this year.Roger's Burgers will be mostly the same as the Sherman Ave store but will not have Ice Cream,but they will serve ice cream shakes.Hours for the new Roger's Burgers will be...Sun-Thurs.-10:30 to 9:30 and Fri -Sat. 10:30 to 10:30 the new resturant will hire on between 18-24 new employees as well as some additonal help at the first location

Another local favorite eatery,David's Pizza of Spokane has found it's new permenant home in a neat old building near Downtown Spokane.David's Pizza had been near the Gonzaga campus until last year when they we're forced out for their building to be torn down and replaced with a strip mall.Since the move David's has been serving up their pizza pies inside Famous Ed's 2911 E. 57th on the South Hill, still in Spokane but some distance from Downtown.Now David's Pizza has found it's new perminant home at 803 N Post which is in the old hostess factory only a stone's throw away from the Spokane Arena.The new location will take some time to get build but once done it will have some meeting space,outside seating and convinent parking.David's Pizza plans to keep their menu the same at the new location but will add some of the items from their partner restuaunt,Famous Ed's .

Another Downtown Spokane resturant, The Steam Plant Grill has been renovated and is now open with a new brand and name,The resturant is now known as Stacks at Steam Plant and Steam Plant Brewing Co. and Pub. The resturants take up the space inside of an historic steam plant which up until 1986 provided steam heat for most of Downtown Spokane.The building and resturants located are found at 159 S Lincoln and offer an updated menu as well beers made on site by the brewery which had been a part of the Coeur d Alene Brewing Co.

Providence Health System moving some operations

Spokane's Providence Health System who operates Sacred Heart and Holy Family Hospitals along with many clinics and offices in various locations in the Inland Northwest has announced that as part of their plans to re-locate 150 jobs via a consulidation of their revenue cycle management operations offices .They will lease and move into roughly 35,000 sq feet of new space in the Meadowwood Technolgy Campus at 24100 E. Mission is Liberty Lake.The move will allow Providence Health System to hire on about 150 new employees,However these jobs will not be avilable until fall after a the new space is done being remodeled.The new office need is result of Providence moving and closing service centers in Renton,Wa. and Portland. Eventually the new Liberty Lake office will also house some of Providence's Billing Services as well.

Update Mar. 14th 2012

In the Spokane area....

Bridge Press Cellars Winery  and  Emvy Cellars Winery have purchased the building at 35 W. Pacific Ave in Downtown Spokane jointly and plan to move their operation into the building soon.The 2 wineries currently operate The Marketplace Wine Bar located inside the Spokane Public Market Building across the hall from Sun People Dry Goods,Hopfully more on this soon...

The Medical Lake Food Bank in Medical Lake is moving to a new more perminant home.The building will be new construction and will take up roughly 2000 sq feet at 211 N LeFreve.Currently the Food Bank is located in smaller site at 312 Grace in Medical Lake.

Europro Automotive is now open at their new larger home,EuroPro offers auto repair services with Audi and VW as their specialty.They are located at 14811 E. Sprague Ave in Spokane Valley.

In Coeur d' Alene and North Idaho...

Watch for Keet Sweet Preschool to open sometime in April at 1402 N 3rd St in Coeur d Alene.

Video Game Entertainment is a new game store open in Rathdrum.Video Game Entertainment is not an avarage gaming store however in that the store specializes in rare and older games such as those for Super Nintendo or Sega,etc.. They even sell entire gaming consoles.Video Game Entertainment is located at 15580 N Vera in Rathdrum.

The space that once was Longboard Burgers is full once agian as Alice's Grill is now open inside the A&D Mini Mart at the corner of 4th and Appleway near I-90 in Coeur d Alene.

The long time vacant building on Seltice just east of the Hwy 41 intersection that at one time was AirOne Equipment Rentals is now a boat and rv storage business.Glad to see something there...

And it's far from being a new business but look for Rosa's Italian Market & Deli to re-open starting on March 19th. Rosa's had been closed for about 5 months while the owner recovered from surgery but all is well now and the Deli will re-open with and expanded lunch menu and more dinner times.For more info on all that Rosa's Italian Market & Deli see her post on the Inland Northwest Business Watch Facebook page (and like the page while your there....)

Let's Talk Spokane Debuts

In today's less then ideal economy in Spokane and Coeur d Alene area in is easy to become a bit of a pessimist about the local business climate.But a new locally produced tv show that began just a couple of weeks ago on KXLY TV is out to prove that wrong.The new show called Let's Talk Spokane and is hosted by local's Kent Adams and Kyrsten Weber with production by Spokane's own Kent Adams Consulting,LLC .The new half hour long tv show is a forum where local business people can go on air and speak for a few min. about their business and any execiting new products,projects,etc... The show is a great and informative voice for the buy local movement as well. Let's Talk Spokane airs on KXLY Channel 4 on Fridays at 11am in the prime spot right after The View and then re-played on Sunday morning at 6:30 am and is sponsored by Washington Trust Bank.For more info on Let's Talk Spokane and how to get on the show to promote your own business visit them at their website www.letstalkspokane.com or by calling 509-216-0891

Update Mar 12th 2012

In the Spokane area...

A Spokane resident has opened a new life coaching business called Everyday Abundance. The owner ,Lori Mange plans to operate the business out of her home in Spokane.

The Reclothery is a new second hand women's clothing store that opened recently in Spokane at 613 S. Washington.

Spokane Housing Ventures is building another apartment complex for senior citizens.The new apartment complex will be called  Claire View Senior Apartments and will be located at 3146 E. 44th Ave by Shopko on the South Hill.The complex when open will have 60 units and rent will be based on income.

The lacrosse and hockey sports store,Stix which had been in Liberty Lake has been sold and now will be Total Sports Training and Gear Shop and will focus on lacrosse only as the prior owner will keep ownership of the hockey side of the business and move it to North Spokane. Total Sports Training will however remain at the current location,22910 E. Appleway in Liberty Lake.

Pawparazzi Grooming Studio is celebrating their grand opening on Spokane's South Hill.The grooming business is located at 503 1/2 E. 30th Ave.

Peaks and Plains Medical Supply is closing their store at 57th and Regal in the South Hill's Albertson's Shopping Center.The medical supply business will have a going out of business sale but will consolidate the store in with their exsisting location on E. Sprague in Spokane.

Also new in the plaza's at 57th and Regal is Asia Resturant .The new resturant serves a varity of asian foods from chinese dishes to the vietnamese noddle soup,Pho.


In Coeur d Alene and North Idaho...

Kellogg's The Pizza Palace at 315 McKinley Ave has aquired the storefront next door to theirs and plan to expand their dine in operations into the new space.

Autumn Haven Assisted Living is closing their facilites in Hayden.The home closures are due to the business getting their properties forclosed on.The banks are working with the facility owners to get all of the residents to new homes before taking over the property.Autumn Haven operated at both 264 W. Hilgren Ave and 9886 N Reed Rd both in Hayden

The landmark Northern Pacific Railroad depot building at 201 N 3rd St in Downtown Coeur d' Alene is undergoing a full remodel for it's latest use.The building had held the Las Palmita's Mexican Resturant but will now become an office building for Timberline Drilling which is right now in offices at 2775 N Howard in Coeur d Alene.

Fatburger expanding in the Spokane area

Do you love Fatburger and their fast food burger location inside the Kalispel Tribe's Northern Quest Casino (100 N Hayford Rd. Airway Heights)? Well then this is your lucky day because Fatburger's parent company Fatburger North America Inc. has announced they plan to partner with the Kalispel Tribe to expand their Fatburger franchise to more locations in other parts of Spokane and the Inland Northwest,The Kalispel's opened their first Fatburger in 2009 in the Northern Quest Casino's food court as part of a major expansion of the casino since then their Fatburger store has ranked consistantly ranked among the top 10 franchises chain-wide prompting this partnership.Where the new Fatburger's will go and just how many will end up in the area is a question that has not yet been answered but I do know the Kalispel Tribe is in the planning phases to aquire and remodel the former Pizza Hut location at 6022 N Division in North Spokane.Each Fatburger will employ about 30 and goes by the motto of the last great hamburger stand.

The Ref Sports Bar is now open!

If you've been wondering what's going in to the space that once was the Owens Auction Gallery at 14208 E. Sprague Ave in Spokane Valley,well the answer is an exciting new sports bar called The Ref and it is now open to the public.The Ref Sports Bar is a completely local non-chain affiliated bar and restaurant in a completely remodeled and convenient space directly on Spokane Valley's main drag,Sprague Ave. The Ref has everything you'd expect of a sports bar like burgers starting at 8.49 ,Pizza's and of course chicken wings. The Ref offers a happy hour from 4 to 6pm and a list of daily specials.They even have a scoreboard themed flat screen display directly above the bar so you never miss a play,Inland Northwest Business Watch welcomes The Ref Sports Bar,for more visit www.therefsportsbar.com

Update Mar. 10th 2012

In the Spokane area....

LNS Building Maintance is now open at 2630 E. Sprague Ave in Spokane

Rite Aid is making plans to build a new stand alone store to replace their older store in the Franklin Park Commons Shopping Center on N Division in Spokane.The new Rite Aid store would be build at the corner of Division and Central Ave just north of Burlington Coat Factory.

Victoria's Espresso which was on Pines Rd in Spokane Valley has closed.

2nd Watch is a technology company which is moving their corporate offices into 1,200 sq feet of space at 2310 N Molter Rd in Liberty Lake

Chris Custom VW Repair is moving their business which offers both auto repair and machine shop services to 3915 E. Francis Ave Suite B-6

Scarlett's Nails is celebrating a grand opening at their location at 1812 N Washington in Spokane.

In Coeur d' Alene and North Idaho...

Sprint has opened their new retail cell phone store in 1,400 sq feet of space that was formerly a Hollywood Video next to Fred Meyer at US 95 and Kathleen in Coeur d Alene.The new store is open now and directly next to the new Cafe Rio restaurant which will open soon(I'm gathering info on Cafe Rio and hope to get more on this soon so stay tuned for Cafe Rio's opening date in Coeur d Alene)

To make way for their new store,the Sprint retail store on Kathleen in the same strip mall as Little Cesar's Pizza across from Costco has now closed.

The Post Falls bar Club 41 which took the space of Paddy's Too at 900 N. Hwy 41 (River City Center Shopping Center) sometime back has closed. However Club 41 will be replaced by another bar called Loungefly. Loungefly is currently hiring bartender and hopes to be open in mid to late March.I hope to have more on this soon as well.

Payton's All Season Motorsports which was at 2625 E. Seltice Way in Post Falls has closed.

Dave's Mechanic and Small Engine Service is having a grand opening in their new home at 5540 E. Seltice Way Suite C in Post Falls .Dave's Mechanic Service offers discounted auto repair and longer hours being open from 8-8

Update Mar 7th 2012

In the Spokane area...

Hermance Insurance has now  merged in with Northwest Farm Credit Service and will take the Farm Credit name at their office at 221 S. Havana in Spokane.

Tryst Hair Co. is a new salon now open in Spokane's Schade Towers building which is located at 528 E. Spokane Falls Blvd.

Mommy & Me is now open,the new store is Children's clothing and home decor store located in Spokane at 1314 S. Grand Ave.

Intergrity Insurance Solutions is now open at their office at 3913 N Post in Spokane.Intergrity sells both health and life insurance policies.

In Coeur d Alene and North Idaho....

CdA Powersports now has a large selection and now sell both their orginal Honda motorbike line but also KTM Motorcycles.They held a open house to introduce buyers to the new KTM's last weekend.CdA Powersports is located in Coeur d Alene along Seltice Way directly next door to Coeur d Alene Honda car dealership.

Temptations Cupcakes recently opened a second store in Coeur d Alene.Temptations has been in the former TCBY spot in Hayden's Prarie Shopping Center since last year and now will also be at 315 E. Harrison in Midtown Coeur d Alene,in the same building as Interstate Office Supply.

Much more to come,If you have any tips or want to get you business on this blog e-mail me inlandbusiness@yahoo.com or post directly on the Inland Northwest Business Watch's Facebook page.

Coeur d Alene Resort's new lobby photos

The Coeur d Alene Resort in Downtown Coeur d Alene offically opened their new remodeled lobby,fitness center,Whispers cocktail bar(which is now 3 times the size of the orginal Whispers bar) and Dockside Resturant last week.Unfortunatly my schedule wouldn't allow me to post any photos on here till now so I apoligize for the delay.Speaking as a 3rd party outsider the new look is very nice and much more modern then before,here's a look....

The above photo is looking towards the newly redesigned lobby coffee stand also in the shot is the new large fish tank.

2.In the lobby near the fireplace and by the hallway leading to the Dockside Resturant.

3.The new Whispers bar

4.The new look for the Dockside Resturant,Dockside has also made some changes to their menu and added a new confernce room space called the shore room next door to the resturant where the Shore Lounge night club once was.

Mobius Science Center opening in Aug.

It's offical we now have a date for when the long anticipated and now well under construction Mobius Science Center will open in their space at 811 W. Main in Downtown Spokane.The new Mobius Science Center will open to the public on Aug 3rd 2012 however the official grand opening will not be until sometime in early Sept. The new science center is a branch off of the Mobius Childrens Museum which has located in the basement floor of River Park Square since 2005 and is directly across the street from the new science center project.The Mobius Science Center will include classrooms,a large display and exhibit area as well as a store and on site cafe.The center will take up roughly 28,000 square feet and has been in the works for a couple of years now.For more info on the Mobius Science Center project as well as exhibits one can expect to see when the center opens in Aug visit them at www.mobiusspokane.org

North Idaho Sports Complex coming.

A group of local investors and Soccer parents have pooled their resources to form a group called North Idaho Sports Complex,LLC and have entered into and agreement to purchase roughly 40 acres of land near the intersection of Hutter Rd And Prarie Ave in Northwest Coeur d Alene for the purpose of building such a large 16 field sports complex.
The North Idaho Sports Complex will be built in phases and will include sports other then Soccer in the future but there has been no mention of what those sports might be.The Sports Complex will be open to the public but mostly is to be used by the Coeur d Alene Sting youth soccer club.One of the future phases for the Sports Complex is to include a championship class field with lighting.There is also no word as to when construction of the complex might begin or an opening date but I will watch this one closely. It's also of interest because I know the City of Post Falls had looked to build something similar on Hayden Ave not to far from here as part of the Post Falls park system.For more on the North Idaho Sports Complex project please contact Mike Thomson of the CdA Sting soccer club at 208-929-2503 or e-mail doc.sting@gmail.com

UPDATE: Since making this post I have learned that the group,North Idaho Sports Complex,LLC is making a formal request for annexation into the City of Hayden before completing the sale of the land. That annexation will go before Hayden's City Council on March 13th. If annexation is approved the construction on the sports complex will start soon with play on the fields being ready by Spring of 2013.

Update Mar. 6th 2012

Happening in the Spokane area....

Look for a new resturant in Downtown Spokane at 401 W. Riverside will become Bowl'z Bitez and Spritz .More on this new resturant hopfully soon.

In other Spokane resturant news,the popular Perry St Cafe located at 1002 S Perry in Spokane is now open for dinner.Dinner at the Perry St Cafe is avilable Thurs. thru Sat. onlt from 4:30 till 8:30pm

The Spokane Humane Society has begun work on their new Spay and Neuter Clinic in Spokane.The clinic is located at 6607 N Havana St.

ST Repair which did mobile PC and cell phone repair in Spokane has gone out of business.

Spa Zenaida which was in the strip mall at 23801 E. Appleway in Liberty Lake has also closed.

Spokane Falls Community College's brand new planetarium is now open for shows.The Planeterium offers shows on the weekends and is located at Spokane Falls Community College at 3410 W. Fort George Wright Dr in Spokane

And now in North Idaho...

Quality Kids Care will take over the child care center on Idaho St near Mullan Ave and directly across from Super 1 Foods.The building is undergoing some work and should open soon.

Also in Post Falls Midway Chrysler Dodge Jeep and Ram Trucks is undergoing an expansion after last fall Midway aquired the rights to sell the Dodge and Ram Truck lines from Tom Addis Dodge in Coeur d Alene.The expansion includes a little more inventory but most noticably an expanded service department.

Sudden Shine Auto Detailing is now open in Coeur d' Alene .Sudden Shine is located in the same building as the Appleway Car Wash and Quick Lube directly across Appleway from Lowe's

The Donut House location on Kathleen Ave near the interesction with Govenment Way has closed.But rest assured The Donut House on Government Way in Hayden as well as the 24 hour Donut House location on Seltice Way in Post Falls are still open.

Dr. Rachel Fehling has opened her new dental clinic called Element Dental which is located at 700 Ironwood Suite 320 in Coeur d Alene.

Marshall's to open in Spokane on Thursday

Businesses are opening in both Spokane and Coeur d Alene almost everyday now but few are as large or will employ the numbers being brought to town by the New Marshall's store in Spokane's Northtown Mall. The store has been under construction since last fall when it was annouced that Marshall's would take the Mall's anchor spot that was vacated in 2011 by Nordstrom Rack after that store moved to the Spokane Valley Mall.The proper address for the new Spokane Marshall's is 4750 N Division Suite 1017 and they will offically open to the public this Thursday March 8th. The store will be the first  with the Marshall's name in the Inland Northwest however Marshall's is the same company as TJ Maxx which is in both Spokane and Coeur d Alene.The new store will have name brand clothing at 60% off of orginal retail prices and a large shoe department among other store features.The new store employs around 100 and is on the 1st floor of Northtown Mall near the Barnes and Noble.

Fire guts 2 Coeur d' Alene businesses

2 Coeur d Alene businesses on Government Way have been forced to close up shop at their current locations for at least the time being after a large fire ripped thru the 2 tenant building at 5648 N Government Way inbetween Dalton Ave and Hanley Ave.Both Helmet Outlet USA and the neighboring Kirby Vacuum Sales and Service are complete losses.The good news is acording to Helmet Outlet USA's Facebook page their business will still remain open but on their website, helmetoutletusa.com ,Helmet Outlet is a motorcycle and motorcycle appearl store that also features motocross and snowmobile products as well. Less is known what if any plans the Kirby Vacuum store has after this forced closure but they do operate a second store in Post Falls on Spokane St less then 1 block north of Seltice Way and near the Post Falls Library.The Kootenai County Sheriff's office is investigateing the fire which they say may be arson since someone was seen running away from the building shortly before the fire,if you have any info please contact the sheriff's office at 208-446-1300