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Montana based Glacier Restaurant Group announced it will build a second MacKenzie River Pizza location at the corner of 57th and Regal, in Spokane.

It's going into the spot vacated by Hollywood Video on that corner.

Last year the company said it would put in a first MacKenzie River Pizza at a location near Jay and Nevada, in North Spokane. That first store is due to open later in June.

The new location is expected to open this fall. A company spokesman said it will employ about 70 workers. It will have 5,800 square feet.

Company COO Brad Ridgeway said the Hamilton, Mont.-based chain selected the Moran Prairie area for its second MacKenzie site because of retail mix and growing population.

The chain has 13 pizza operations in Montana and Idaho, including one shop in Coeur d'Alene.

Spokane's new downtown Ciao Mambo restaurant opens its doors to the public on Monday.

Dinner hours start at 4 p.m. until close. It's open seven days a week.

This is Spokane's first Ciao Mambo. Ciao Mambo is a network of restaurants managed by  Whitefish, Mont.-based Glacier Restaurant Group.

Here's a photo taken during recent last-finishing touchups of the interior. The space, 818 W. Riverside, was formerly used by Washington Mutual Bank, and we have a feeling Ciao Mambo will turn out a little better than WaMu did.

In May the restaurant will offer lunch service, said Jim Elkins and Brad Townsend, company managers for Glacier Restaurant Group.

OK, this will make our third and last post here about the MacKenzie River Pizza Co. location announcement, made this week by Glacier Restaurant Group, out of Whitefish, Mont.

Our earlier post noted that a press release quoted Glacier COO Brad Ridgeway explaining the choice of location, in North Spokane at the intersection of Nevada and Jay (along the Nevada corridor), as a way to “reap the visibility benefits while avoiding the clutter of the competition.”

We asked Brad what that means. In brief, it means having good access to customers and drivers, but also not setting up shop on crowded Newport Highway, which is about 450 feet to the west of the site Glacier chose.

By being off a distance and not smack dab in the mix of retail on Newport Highway, MacKenzie should do fine. He noted that another one of their MacKenzie locations is next to or near an Olive Garden. It’s not always beneficial for one eatery to be next to a larger one, Ridgeway said.

Sometimes we just move along with the material given to us and don’t stop to think what’s been said.

Point in case, the earlier post we had about MacKenzie River Pizza coming to Spokane next year, near the big new WinCo.

The COO of Glacier Restaurant Group said one reason for that site is the nice avaiability of north Spokane’s residential population. And it also helps by letting “us reap the visibility benefits while avoiding the clutter of the competition.”

We will follow up and try to nail down what the “clutter” referred to really is.

See the previous Office Hours post below for the full story.

The Montana restaurant company that will bring a Ciao Mambo eatery to downtown plans to build its first Eastern Washington MacKenzie River Pizza Co. store in north Spokane next year.

Glacier Restaurant Group said it will lease a 5,800-square-foot restaurant to go in the corner of N. Nevada Street and E. Jay Avenue. The owner of the site is Spokane Pavilion LLC.

The state of Montana, so far, is home to a dozen MacKenzie River Pizza locations; Coeur d’Alene has one.

The north Spokane pizza restaurant will open in May or June 2011 and is expected to bring in over 70 jobs to the Spokane area, according to Cory Barbieri of Goodale and Barbieri Co., who handled the transaction for Glacier and Spokane Pavilion LLC. The new building will cost about $1.1 million, with Lone Wolf Construction, of Montana, as general contractor.

The photo above is of the Kalispel pizza place.

The Nevada Street corridor was chosen by Glacier because it has the appeal of north Spokane access along with the “added bonus of being located in an up-and-coming retail center,” said Brad Ridgeway, COO of Glacier Restaurant Group.

“This site allows us to reap the visibility benefits while avoiding the clutter of the competition,” he also said.