View Larger Map Restoration and renovation are more than halfway done at two downtown Spokane buildings, including the former Empire State Building. Part of the work at the Great Western Building, at 905 W. Riverside, includes renaming it the Empire State Building, the structure’s original…
Spalding Auto Parts, the largest new/used vehicle-parts seller around, will open a North Spokane location next week. It will be generally identical in operation to the Pull and Save Spalding has operated in the Spokane Valley, not far from the Spalding main yard. Our full…
Thank you, Greater Hillyard Business Association. The business group planned a "Connect with the Electeds" meeting for this evening (Thursday) starting around 6 p.m. at the Inland NW Wildlife Council, 6116 N. Market. By odd timing, the event will be bigger and more fun than…
Economic news out of southern Idaho: The Simplot Company plans to lay off at least 800 workers at its food processing plants, and the number could be larger depending on other options the company may follow. The source here is a story today at the…
A few weeks ago Sandpoint-based clothing retailer Coldwater Creek (CWTR) was facing possibly delisting from the Nasdaq Exchange as its stock price dipped below $1. Since then the stock has held steady and got to $1.13 last week. As of market close on Wednesday, Coldwater…
Ambassadors Group, Inc., which has its Spokane headquarters near the Spokane Airport, said it will pay a quarterly dividend of six cents per share on Dec. 7. The company arranges tours and professional travel service for student groups and for professionals. The dividend will go…
One quick thought when we learned state voters approved the initiative that would privatize liquor sales was how that might affect boutique spirit-maker Dry Fly Distilling, producer of vodka, gin, whiskey and bourbon. We went out and asked co-founder Don Poffenroth whether removing the state…
Washington state home sales inched up 0.8 percent at seasonally adjusted annual rates from the first quarter of the year to 85,870 units, according to a report from the Washington Center for Real Estate Research, managed by Washington State University and its director, Glenn Crellin.…
Spokane-based Red Lion Hotels Corp. announced they're preparing to sell two of its hotels in Medford and Missoula. Both hotels were part of a group previously leased from iStar Financial Inc. of New York. Last week Red Lion purchased the hotels to end the leases.…
Apple's retail stores seem a happy place. Unless you believe in unionizing the workers who toil there, in which case Apple may not be "liking" your Facebook page. In response to at least one serious effort to create a union for Apple store workers, the…
Despite the dour forecasts for the U.S. Postal Service, they still do a solid job during the holiday season. They helpfully notified us of their recommended shipping deadlines for customers sending items domestically; so here they are: First class mail, cut off date Dec. 20…
Sterling Financial Corporation of Spokane announced this morning that Sterling Savings Bank plans to buy First Independent Bank of Vancouver, Wash., including all deposits and banking operations, 14 branches in southeastern Washington and two offices in Portland. The purchase is expected to be completed early…
In addition to the story we ran this week, plus a great slideshow by SR photographer Jesse Tinsley, we produced a quick two-minute video tour of the renovated McKinstry building along the Spokane River. Colin Mulvany provided additional production tweaking to this video.
Intrinium Networks' brand new office celebrated an opening open house on Thursday. Kevin Dudley of GSI came back with a photo of the ceremonial ribbon cutting. We certainly salute Intrinium and CEO Nolan Garrett for growing to nearly a dozen workers. They've located at new…
Northwest Farm Credit Services, the Northwest’s largest farm lending cooperative, reported a $45.8 million third quarter profit. Good crop yields and high prices continued to make agriculture a bright spot in an otherwise dull economy. The results compared to a $41 million profit for the…
A merger between Horizon Credit Union and Montana First Credit Union has been approved by both credit unions’ boards. The deal should be closed by the end of the year and give the credit unions extended reach across three states. Horizon has 38,000 members, 16…
This is the first third of our SR business story running tomorrow at Spokesman.com. Along with it will be a photo slideshow by Jesse Tinsley (whose shot is featured here), and a video. The print version will appear in Friday's daily editions of The Spokesman-Review.…
A $600,000 federal grant to Spokane’s Health For All program will be used to find and enroll teens who don’t have health insurance. There are an estimated 40,000 teens in Washington who don’t have health insurance and thus don’t go to the doctor for regular…
View Larger Map Spokane-based IT company Intrinium Networks (not Itrinium) has moved to new offices in Spokane Valley. It's hosting an open house today -- Thursday -- at the new digs, at 505 N. Argonne Road, Building B. It starts at 4 p.m. and runs…
Sleep Country USA has acquired more than 10 Mattress Outlet locations across Eastern Washington and North Idaho, the company announced on Wednesday. The news announcement, at http://www.24-7pressrelease.com/press-release-service/243206, explains that the acquisition means 14 stores in Ellensburg, Spokane, Yakima, Wenatchee, Richland, Kennewick, Moses Lake, Lewiston and…
BOISE – Idaho's Department of Labor will start intercepting federal tax refunds headed to more than 5,000 Idahoans next year, to recover nearly $10 million in unemployment benefit overpayments due to fraud or misreported earnings. To avoid the move, the people involved, who all are…
Avista Corp. reported slightly lower third quarter earnings of $10.7 million, or 18 cents per share, this morning, compared to $12.3 million, or 22 cents per share, for the third quarter of 2010. Through the first nine months of the year, Avista’s income was $75.6…
Key Tronic, the Spokane Valley contract manufacturer, reported earnings of $1.2 million or 12 cents a share for 1Q of 2012. That's compared with $1.7 million or 17 cents a share one year earlier. Company executives on Tuesday saluted a very decent quarter, despite the…
We should have noted, when posting earlier (Washington and Idaho both fall short...) that area economic development folks know full well that Washington has to compete hard for new businesses. As the earlier post notes, Texas is the state to beat, and its busy recruiters…
Both the Coeur d’Alene and Post Falls school districts are ramping up their broadband connections, installing 2-gigabit fiber connections provided by Fatbeam Inc. Fatbeam, based in Post Falls, signed contracts that average 7.5 years in length and that will total more than $2 million in…