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Thursday, May 14, 2020

Handful of Inland Northwest businesses announce permanent closures

Like the rest of the country, small businesses in our area finding it hard to survive as a result of the Covid-19 closures and lock down. I don't want to do this post but for information sake I feel it's time to do a round up of the few businesses that have announced they will not be re-opening in our area....

Prospectors Bar & Grill
12611 N. Division, Spokane

Prospectors has been a long running family owned business that is closing largely due to the lack of business during the closure.


Tomato Street River Park Square
808 W. Main, Spokane

The Tomato Street location inside River Park Square will not re-open. This is one of 3 locations of the restaurant and the newest as it had just opened in 2016. The owners say this closure will allow them focus on the other locations which will remain open.


Rocky Rococo Pizza and Pasta 
520 W. Main, Spokane

This was the first closure to be announced but one of the harder hitting as Rocky Rococo had been open in Downtown Spokane for over 35 years. Although the restaurant was actually part of chain it was locally owned and the only location in this region.


Lenny's American & Italian Cuisine
1204 1st St. Cheney

Despite attempting to stay afloat with take out orders the business has announced they will are not closed for good. They we're a local business that was part of the Cheney community for over 20 years.


Party Palace
2607 N. Division, Spokane

Although the current events have hit our restaurants particularly hard, other sectors haven't been spared. The retail party store Party Palace has announced they will re-open the store only to liquidate and close their doors. Party Palace has been a locally owned and operated store in Spokane for 33 years.

But, there is hope...

When 2020 started I never thought I'd be writing a post like this, it's not meant to be political just telling you what we are hearing and perhaps inspire our readers to continue to support our local businesses. Untold numbers of shops and restaurants could still be added to this list before this is all over, and we don't even really know when it will be all over.

But, it's not all sad. Rumors surfaced recently on social media that Satellite Diner & Lounge in Downtown Spokane might soon close too. But, they we're quick to debunk those rumors and today they are very much still open and still as awesome as ever. 

I'm also uplifted by a phrase that was said by Lee Gibbon, the franchisee of Rocky Rococo Pizza in a Spokesman Review article about their closure. He said "It's now time to step away and allow a new generation of entrepreneurs to use their energy and talent to create the next success story within the Spokane community "

This too shall pass and we have some incredibly talented business people coming up in the Spokane area. In due time many of these places will be filled with new places where future generations will enjoy just as much as we did. I'm a history buff so of course I'm sad to see these places go but we will be back!