Greater Spokane Incorporated Hosts 15th Annual Economic Forecast

On November 7th 2012 from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Greater Spokane Incorporated will host their 15th Annual Economic Forecast. This year's event will take place in the Spokane Convention Center Ballroom and is presented as a partnership with Journal of Business. As well as many other sponsors.

The event will feature to renown speakers, Dr. John W. Mitchell , Principal at M&H Economic Consultants and Dr. Grant Forsyth, Chief Economist for Avista.

The public is welcome to attend and can register online for cost of 35 dollars at...
http://events.greaterspokane.org

The cost to attend will increase to 50 dollars however after November 2nd and the public is welcome to follow along using Twitter hash tag #econforecast.

Dirty Dog Laundry is making Spokane's college life a little better.

A new business that opened only a couple of months ago here in Spokane is making life a little easier for the students at Gonzaga University. That new business is called Dirty Dog Laundry and it is being ran by 2 students, Peter Blei and Dolan Patterson .

In a nutshell Dirty Dog Laundry comes to you to get your laundry then does it for you,for a price which is charged in ether a annual,monthly, weekly or month to month payment plan .Customers are even given special bags for the laundry,which is transported to a local laundromat which Dirty Dog has an agreement with. The service is a very creative idea that has been designed for students who don't want to take the extra time to do laundry.

As of right now Dirty Dog Laundry is only available to students at Gonzaga University but is garnering interest in the community.

For more info on Dirty Dog Laundry visit-

www.dirtydoglaundry.com

Or on Facebook-

http://www.facebook.com/DirtyDogLaundry

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The Milkman has returned to Spokane!

There is one newer business here in Spokane that is bringing back a bit of something older. That is the milkman and the new business is Spokane Milk Home Delivery which opened only a few months ago and has been growing and adding new customers ever since.

Spokane Milk Home Delivery supplies their customers by buying their Milk directly from the factory and uses a higher quality of milk from Smith Brothers Farms. Along with Milk, they also offer many other items for delivery those include... Milk bi-products such as Cheese, Eggs, Bread and Orange Juice.

Spokane Milk Home Delivery's address is in Spokane Valley at 509 N. Sullivan Rd. Suite C140 . If you'd like to get more info on this new service ,including how to sign up, visit these sites...

www.spokanemilk.com

http://www.facebook.com/SpokaneMilkHomeDelivery

E. Sprague Ave. Wal-Mart now open!

The Spokane area newest Wal-Mart Store is now officially open, with an official opening happen back on the 17th and a grand opening celebration the weekend directly after. The new Wal-Mart is located in the 5500 block of E. Sprague Ave in Spokane Valley is nearby other large retailers like Lowe's, Costco and Home Depot. The new Sprague Ave. This new Wal-Mart has created about 350 new local jobs and Wal-Mart as a whole created about 900 new jobs in Washington State with 2 other stores opening on the same day elsewhere in the state.

The new local Wal-Mart store covers around 147,000 square feet of space and offers a oversized parking lot area directly to the west of the new store. A commercial pad site also remains for sale on the property near the main vehicle entrance.

The new Spokane Valley Wal-Mart is similar to most other Wal-Mart's in the Spokane and Coeur d' Alene area as it offers both general merchandise and a grocery area, with some 30 different departments. Also included is a walmart.com services area , cell phone sales , photo lab and with the changes in Washington's liquor laws earlier this year the new store also features a small liquor store space in front of the registers with a separate cashier station for shopping ease and security.And, yes this Wal-Mart also already has their Christmas Decoration department set up.

Also similar to other Wal-Mart's the new store on Sprague has a selection of leased out shop spaces in the front of the store in between entry doors. This new Wal-Mart features a new Subway, Smart Style Hair Salon and a Da Vi Nail Salon.

Below is a look at the free store maps handed out during the grand opening celebrations,I apologize if the department names,etc... are a little hard to read.



The new store will be open 24 hours a day. For more info on Wal-Mart including ad's from this and other local Wal-Mart's visit-
www.walmart.com




P.S. Inland Northwest Business Watch endorses primarily a buy local approach to shopping however we cover all business news stories that affect the communities we serve.

North Spokane Lowe's to open soon

The North Carolina based home improvement superstore Lowe's is expected to open their newest store in the Spokane area by the end of this month. The new Lowe's is a replacement to an older store that had been located nearby.

The new store which was built in part by the Spokane based Vandervert Construction is also much larger then the forementioned original store. The new store which is about a block south of the old store, takes up about 171,000 square feet. The address is 6606 N Division

The new Lowe's is on a site that had been a K-Mart and small strip mall prior. Those stores ether closed (in the case of K-Mart) or moved and the building demolished to make way for the completely new building.

Keep watching Inland Northwest Business Watch for more including opening dates and possibly even photos,if scheduling permits.

Newly expanded Enoteca to host grand opening

A popular wine and craft beer retailer in Post Falls is planning a grand opening this weekend  (Oct 25th , 26th and 27th 2012) for it's newly expanded shop and bar. Enoteca which is now called Enoteca Drinkery & Refuge has doubled in size by taking over the former real estate offices directly to the east of them in their Post Falls strip mall. The store is located in the same plaza as Domino's and nearby the Post Falls Liquor Store at 112 E. Seltice Way.

The old Enoteca store featured a selection of wines and beers, many of which hard to find . But with the new expansion that selection is also bigger. But the biggest change by far is the new "Drinkery" which is basically a non smoking bar complete with beer & wine and now even fine scotch and cocktails.

For the Grand Opening this weekend Enoteca is planning some special tastings, special promotions and even a Halloween party on the 27th of Oct.

For more info on the grand opening celebrations and on Enoteca in general please visit their website at-
www.corkjoy.com

New business update: Oct. 24th 2012

Just a small update this week due to some computer issues,Thanks for bearing with us...

In the Spokane area...

Plans have obviously fallen thru for the Xotic Auto and Marine dealership planned for the once vacant building across from Huntwood on Country Vista Dr. in Liberty Lake.

Specialty Auto and Tire is moving to a new location still in Spokane Valley at 10415 E. Sprague Ave.

Select Comfort will move out of Spokane Valley Mall soon. But the mattress retailer made famous by it's Sleep Number Bed brand won't go far. The store will re-open in a new strip mall being built next to the Evergreen Crossing Shopping Center at the corner of Evergreen Rd. and Indiana Ave. in Spokane Valley.

Safeguard Northwest is also moving in Spokane. Their new offices will be at 122 E. Montgomery Ave.

In the Coeur d' Alene area...

Loftus Family Dental is expanding by opening a new dental office in Post Falls. The Coeur d' Alene based sedadtion dentistry office will open soon next to Little Cesars Pizza on Seltice Way near Greensferry Rd.

Rodda Paint is moving to a new store in a more noticeable location. The paint store will take over the former University Appliance location in Coeur d' Alene just 2 doors north of the Government Way/ Canfield Ave. intersection.

Seltice RV and Auto which had been in the 2000 block of W. Seltice in Post Falls is closing due the owner's retirement.

Coeur d' Alene Staples to remodel

The big box office supplies and copy business Staples is planning a major remodel of it's Coeur d' Alene location. The Coeur d' Alene Staples is located off of Ironwood Dr near Government Way in the Ironwood Square Shopping Center.

The store will remain open during the construction and will come out with a new look and noticeably smaller size. The chain vacate about 1/3 of the space they currently occupy leaving new Staples at about  15,500 square feet, down from the 24,000 square feet they occupy currently . In all Staples plans to invest about 600,000 into this project.

The move is because of a plan by the Glendale,Az. based chain to make all of their older stores to look like their newer ones. The smaller store format is also a reaction to the increase in people shopping online over  the brick and mortar stores.

Pirate Radio Stations are on the air in Coeur d' Alene

Note: Inland Northwest Business Watch does NOT condone or endorse the use of pirate radio as it is against the law . The purpose of the post is only to inform.

With start-up companies like Gravity Jack and iShoutout dotting the new business scene in the Spokane and Coeur d' Alene area it is obvious that the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well locally. But also alive is the fear among some of government control, which might explain why Coeur d' Alene is currently home to 2 radio stations broadcasting without radio licences. Those 2 stations are very hard to find info on so I figured i'd share them with the INBW readers. They are...

99.5 fm.... 99.5 is a nameless Coeur d' Alene pirate that airs mostly rock with mixes of some other similar formats. There are no dj's and the station is the stronger of the 2 local pirate radio station with 99.5 being able to be heard in Hayden and most of Post Falls.

100.5 fm... The broadcaster behind 100.5 is obviously using his small radio station to share their beliefs on several conspiracy issues, including the collapse of banks and government corruption. The station is a talk radio station and can be hear most clearly in Downtown Coeur d' Alene but also some signal thru-out the rest of the city limits. Oddly enough though 100.5's broadcaster does have a name which I was able to locate on Google,however since I do not have permission I won't re-post.

While the pirate radio stations in Coeur d' Alene are not official businesses they are an interesting sector of the community and maybe one day one will spur into a new business. 

Some of Spokane's eyesores to be improved

Usually when a business or building closes it's a bad thing. However there is, in my opinion, an exception. That exception is when the place becomes known for being an eyesore or simply isn't a good member of the community any longer for any number of reasons. Spokane has several such businesses and properties scattered thru-out the metro area but luckily 3 of the most well known have all ,during the last month, announced plans to ether close or renovate soon. Those 3 businesses and properties are...

Apartments at 1010 W. Boone Ave. to be renovated

1010 W. Boone is an historic apartment building located near Monroe St. and the Spokane REI store. The building has been a haven for drugs and criminal activity for the last few years. But things are about to change for the building at 1010 as the building has new owners, the new owners Joe and Misty Crosby . The Crosby's also own the Motel Lasalle apartment building around the corner on Monroe and plan to do the same to the 1010 building as they did the LaSalle. The plans call for complete cleaning and extensive renovation both inside and out.

Rainbow Bar closed.

The Rainbow Bar,which has now closed it's doors, has been a less then desirable bar for sometime. And the bar's surrounding neighborhood has also been lacking. The area around the Rainbow along E. Sprague Ave. about a mile east of Downtown is in an area known for it's prostitution and drug issues. But hope is coming to the neighborhood with it being renamed the Spokane International District and a new large multi-family apartment building being constructed nearby( More on this project coming soon...)

Tradewinds Motor Inn closing.

The Tradewinds Motor Inn will also soon close it's doors. The Tradewinds which is a Spokane landmark has been on the corner of 3rd Ave and Lincoln St. since opening in the 1960's. The motel once welcomed wary travelers to Spokane but in recent years has mostly been a place to stay month to month for Spokane's low income and near homeless residents. The motel's owners chose not to renew the lease and have even placed everything inside the motel up for sale.

Museum of North Idaho to offer Free Day.

The Museum of North Idaho at the corner of Northwest Blvd. and Mullan Ave. in Downtown Coeur d' Alene is planning a end of season event for this weekend. The museum will not charge admission and will also offer their living history walking tours for a donation only. The press release below from the Museum explains it all....

 Take a walking tour of Old Fort Sherman or Historic Downtown Coeur d’Alene with General William Carlin, the Commander at Fort Sherman or Captain Peter Sorensen, boat builder, and community leader as portrayed by Robert Singletary. Departing from the Museum of North Idaho the Fort Sherman tour starts at 11 a.m. The downtown tour leaves at 1 p.m. The Museum is having a free day, Saturday October 27 and offering the hour and a half tours on a donation basis. The normal tour price is $15 per person. The Museum is located in front of Coeur d'Alene City Park at 115 NW Blvd. Museum hours are Tuesday through Saturday 11-5. Parking is free for Museum visitors.

            The Museum closes for the season October 31 and will reopen April 1. This is the last opportunity to see the featured exhibit, Collecting, A Closer Look. The exhibit examines how the Museum of North Idaho uses its collections to tell stories and preserve history for future generations. Several collectors have loaned samplings from their private collections. As part of the exhibit the public can use a computer to search the Museum’s collections.

The Museum is “cleaning house” and offering bargain prices on hundreds of reproduction historic photos used in past exhibits. Subjects include trains, steamboats, area towns, recreation, airplanes, mining, logging, Fort Sherman and many other scenes from the Coeur d'Alene Region.

The Museum Store is stocked with regional history books and gifts such as t-shirts, jewelry and huckleberry products. The Museum of North Idaho has published over 20 regional books including its new releases Spokane International: Idaho’s Main Line to Canada by Clive Carter and Angus McDonald of the Great Divide: The Uncommon Life of a Fur Trader, 1816 – 1889 by Steve A. Anderson.

            Other exhibits at the Museum include The Mullan Road celebrating the 150th anniversary of Idaho’s first constructed road. The Scandinavians Settled Here exhibit looks at the Nordic influences in the Coeur d'Alene region. It Started with a Fort tells the story of Coeur d'Alene’s Fort Sherman. The exhibit Schitsu’umsh, The People Who Were Discovered Here features beadwork, artifacts, tools, maps, stories and life lessons giving a glimpse into the life of the Coeur d'Alenes Indians. The original signal bells and steering wheel from the steamboat “Flyer” are on exhibit along with photos and models of several of the steamboats that cruised Lake Coeur d'Alene. A replica of a 1932 Forest Service lookout and When the Mountains Roared explores the role of forest fire including the great 1910 Fire. Watch the 20-minute movie Portraits of Coeur d’Alene and discover the people and history that make our area what it is today.

The Museum of North Idaho serves as the regional repository for historical materials relating to the history of the Coeur d'Alene Region which includes Kootenai, Benewah and parts of Shoshone counties. The Museum exhibit hall reopens April 1 but the Museum office and research library are available by appointment year-round. For more information call 208 664-3448, email dd@museumni.org or visit www.museumni.org.