Anthropologie opens Friday (Sept 4th) in Spokane

Downtown Spokane's highly anticipated new Anthropologie store opens this Friday, Sept. 4th at 10:00 AM .  After the opening the store will now continue to be open Monday - Saturday 10AM - 8PM and Sunday 10AM - 6PM.

The new Spokane Anthrologie store is located directly across W. Main from River Park Square in the West 809 building. This is the former home Mobius Science Center who will be re-opening in the near future in the historic Post Street Substation building just north of River Park Square.

What is Anthropologie?

Anthropologie is a trendy growing chain of retail stores based in Philadelphia,PA with over 220 locations in the United States and abroad. The stores ( and the company's web site - www.anthropologie.com ) sell women's clothing and accessories, cosmetics, footwear and housewares.

This will be their first location in our area although the company does already operate stores around Seattle and Western Washington. Their parent company is Urban Outfitters, who is also a chain of retail stores that is planning a location in Spokane. The Spokane Urban Outfitters store will open next year in a new building, being built now on the site of the former Saad Building, next to River Park Square and only a couple blocks away from the new Anthropolgie store.

Unfortunately, we have no exact details on how many new jobs this store opening created. But according to permits the space has about 12,000 square feet including sales area and backroom / office space.

For more, information on Anthropologie, visit their web site at-

http://www.anthropologie.com

&Kloth opening soon across from River Park Square

Anthropolgie won't be the only new business opening this fall in Downtown Spokane's West 809 building . A locally owned and operated clothing boutique with a small coffee café in the front will also open very soon at 809 W. Main directly across the street from River Park Square.

The business will be called &Kloth and is a sister business of Fringe Boutique, a well known boutique and salon on the South Hill and in Wandermere, which also remains in business. &Kloth hopes to be open within the next couple of weeks, they will have 2600 square feet of total space and employ 8.

&Kloth will be a unique store that they describe as "Anthropolgie meets Banana Republic with a Fringe twist" .  The clothing at &Kloth will vary from casual and comfortable to city chic . Clothing styles promise to be attractive for ages 18 -60+ with items priced around $30 - $150. In addition to clothing, &Kloth will also have a selection of jewelry, accessories , home item, gifts and more.

The front portion of &Kloth will be a small coffee café called &Kup which will be a high end , cool & trendy space serving up coffee drinks using Doma Coffee.

For more information about &Kloth visit their website at-

http://andkloth.com

Or,find them on Facebook at-

http://www.facebook.com/andkloth

Natural Grocers is coming to Spokane

Back in June I was first to report of a plan to open a Natural Grocers grocery / supplement store here in Spokane.  I can now confirm that Natural Grocers will be opening a store here in Spokane.

The growing Colorado based chain has confirmed, and began the permitting process for a new store at 4511 N. Division in the same neighborhood as Northtown Mall and across Wellesley from Northtown Square Shopping Center. The new Natural Grocers store will be built as an addition on to the north side of the Office Depot / Sports Outlet retail center. The store will be 16,000 square feet with a value of about $2 million. To make way for the new store, the neighboring Office Depot will also do some remodeling.

There is no opening date set yet for the Spokane Natural Grocers location but when it does open it will employ about 25. This will be the second Natural Grocers store in the Inland Northwest as the chain opened a location at 222 W. Neider Ave in Coeur d' Alene in 2014.

Natural Grocers' full name is Vitamin Cottage Natural Grocers and now operates about 90 locations in several states, all in the West or Midwest, altogether the chain employ's over 2,000. Merchandise is all natural and a bit cheaper then some similar stores. The stores are full service grocery stores with grocery, vitamins, supplements and bath&
body products.

Also, noteworthy is this new store will be under a mile south of the new North Spokane Trader Joe's store planned to open next year in the Franklin Park Commons Shopping Center, also on N. Division.

For more information about Natural Grocers, visit their website at-

http://www.naturalgrocers.com

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers coming to Coeur d' Alene

Although the planning process is still ongoing, and actual building construction may not start on their site till spring of 2016. A franchise location of Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers is coming to Coeur d' Alene and has been confirmed by their corporate offices.

A preliminary site plan has been filed for a 3,583 square foot restaurant to be built just south of the Crossroads at Coeur d' Alene shopping center, nearby the corner of Appleway and Ramsay Road. A franchisee has also been secured and plans are moving forward.

At the present time this will likely be the only location of Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers in the Inland Northwest as no locations are currently in the works for Spokane. Although the company rep did say " we are growing quickly and hope to have the opportunity to serve the Spokane market in the coming years ".

Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers is a fast casual style restaurant chain based in Wichita,KS. . Currently they have 161 locations in 23 US States. All menu items are cooked to order and include premium ground beef steakburgers, Vienna Beef hot dogs and shoestring fries.  Dessert items are also big at Freddy's several treats prepared with freshly churned chocolate or vanilla frozen custard.

On a side note, Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers is not the only business planned to go on this site near I-90 and Winco. A location of Native Grill & Wings is also reported to be in the planning phase although we are still waiting to hear more from their corporate office. A Cracker Barrel is also believed to be planned there but no official site plan has been filed yet. Some site work has already begun with equipment on the site ready to go. We will continue to keep and eye on all of the restaurant developments here.

And, for more information on Freddy's Frozen Custard & Steakburgers visit their website at-

www.freddysusa.com

Scotty's Dog House to open in former Chairs space on Hamiliton

Last used as a place called Chairs Public House, but more famously the former Bulldog Tavern building at 1305 N. Hamilton won't have to sit vacant long. Remodeling work has already begun for the next new business to use the building with a prime location nearby Gonzaga University.

That new business will be Scotty's Doghouse and will be a bar with a food menu. Although, the exact menu is still being worked out so watch for more on that in the near future. Scotty's Doghouse hopes to open for business around the middle of September.

The new bar will offer up a full bar with a kitchen that's open late. A live DJ will be there on weekends and they will be a great place to catch up on sports with 10 flat screen TV's.

For more information about Scotty's Doghouse, check their page on Facebook at-

https://www.facebook.com/scottysdoghouse

And, a website is coming soon at-

http://scottysdoghouse.com

Where to find Spirit Halloween, and other halloween chains in our area in 2015

As I write this post it's still hot and dry outdoors, but in all reality Halloween 2015 is actually approaching us very rapidly. And, one way for a business geek, like myself, to tell is all the leases being signed for Spirit Halloween and other seasonal big box Halloween stores in our area. These stores are usually only open for about 2 or 3 months and just because their on this list does not mean their open now.

But, regardless here is where you will likely find Halloween stores around Spokane and Coeur d' Alene for 2015 ( by chain )-


Spirit Halloween - http://www.spirithalloween.com ( Jobs with these stores can also be applied for via this website )

1233 N. Division St , Spokane ( University District )

7810 N. Division St , Suite A , Spokane ( Northgate Shopping Center )

12105 E. Sprague Ave. , Spokane Valley ( Opportunity Shopping Center )

206 W. Ironwood Dr. , Suites E & F , Coeur d' Alene ( Ironwood Square Shopping Center )


Halloween Express - http://www.halloweenexpress.com ( This is a new Halloween chain to Spokane and looks to be a locally owned franchise, job information with Halloween Express Spokane is available on Facebook at www.facebook.com/halloweenexpressspokane )

47 E. Queen , Spokane ( Stand alone building, just north of Northtown Mall )


There are no planned Halloween City locations planned for Spokane / Coeur d' Alene this year as of yet. Although, one is planned in Pullman.


Although, not a seasonal store, Party City ( http://www.partycity.com ) also has a large Halloween and Halloween costume department in their Spokane area stores. Locally Party City can be found at-

9956 N. Newport Hwy, Spokane ( Northpointe Shopping Center )

13806 E. Indiana Ave. , Spokane Valley ( Evergreen Crossing Shopping Center )

New Hampton Inn proposed near Downtown Spokane

While not officially ready to be built just yet, another new hotel, is in the permitting / environmental review phases to be built not far away from Downtown Spokane and directly next to Sacred Heart Hospital on the Lower South Hill.

The proposal calls for a new six story hotel with 109 hotel rooms to be built at 617 S. McCellan St. , the project would also include a four story parking structure for 130 total parking spaces. The project is being purposed by Spokane S. Medical,LLC , who also owns the property and will be right next to the Hospital, likely to accept some the hospital's many longer term visitors. The new hotel will also be branded with the Hampton Inn hotel chain.

There is no set opening date for this new Hampton Inn as of yet as the review processes are currently ongoing. Nor, is there any information about what the new hotel will feature or how many new jobs it will create, I will update this post once I have all of that information. This will be the fourth Hampton Inn location in the Inland Northwest with locations at Riverstone ( Coeur d' Alene ), on Indiana Pkwy. (Spokane Valley ) and here in Spokane on Assembly St.

Hampton Inn is a franchise based hotel chain that is division of the much larger Hilton Worldwide. Their Headquarters is in McLean,VA and they have over 2,000 hotels scattered in many parts of the world. For more information on Hampton Inn, visit their website at-

www.hamptoninn.com

What's going in at the corner of Sprague & Bowdish

I've been getting a lot of email questions asking about what is going on with the active construction site on Southwest corner of Sprague & Bowdish in Spokane Valley seen here-

Well here is the answer, this site will soon become a new larger O'Reilly Auto Parts store. It will be a 15,335 square foot store with no set opening date as of yet. The new building's address will be 11421 E. Sprague Ave.

The land once housed a couple of smaller buildings, which, as you can see have already been torn down. For news on where those businesses relocated to, check this prior post about that very topic-
http://www.inlandnwbusiness.com/2015/03/oreilly-auto-parts-to-build-new-store.html

Locally filmed Macklemore music video posted

Have you heard the news? The music video for " Downtown " filmed entirely in Downtown Spokane has hit the internet. Take a look...

Grille from Ipanema moving to Riverstone

A popular restaurant from Downtown Coeur d' Alene is planning to leave Downtown soon to become a tenant of the Village at Riverstone. That restaurant is The Grille from Ipanema Brazilian Steakhouse which has been located on the ground floor of the Parkside Tower at 601 Front St. for a few years now.

The restaurant has gained a following and many positive online reviews. They plan to remain open in their current location until the move. The new Riverstone location is currently anticipated to open in the Spring of 2016 after the new space is done being remodeled. At Riverstone the restaurant will occupy 6100 square feet of space at 2416 N. Old Mill Loop . This is the same building as Starbucks on the eastern side of the lifestyle center styled shopping mall. The lease was secured by Bob Spooner of Goodale & Barbieri Real Estate.

The Grille from Ipanema is described best as an upscale all you can eat dining experience. The restaurant's wait staff roam from table to table serving a variety of beef, pork and chicken that is sliced off of skewers directly to the customer.  The restaurant serves primarily Churrasco and Brazilian Barbeque style foods with a colorful, festive décor throughout the establishment.

When first opened, The Grille from Ipanema was the first Brazilian restaurant in the Inland Northwest. Today another, unrelated, restaurant called Rio Grill serves Brazilian dishes on the South Hill in Spokane  .

For more information on The Grille from Ipanema, visit their website at-

http://www.thegrillefromipanema.com/

Or, find them on Facebook at-

https://www.facebook.com/grillefromipanema