Thursday morning new openings (an update):

These two you may have known about already.

• Trader Joe's will open Oct. 28 in the Lincoln Heights Shopping Center. Good luck with parking that weekend. Smartly, TJ's knows it has to be open a few weeks prior to Thanksgiving.
• Title Nine, the fashionable outerwear and sports wear apparel company, recently opened a store on South Perry in the Perry Street District. A good company, with an interesting gamble on where it's set up its shop. See our earlier story.

And not least, the Sapphire Lounge, at the corner of Lincoln and First, will do a grand opening this weekend. This is the front-side intimate lounge-eatery attached to the Hotel Ruby, operated by Jerry Dicker and partners. 

The lounge will do a soft opening tonight and Friday. Saturday is more or less a formal opening, according to Dicker. The lounge normally operates Wednesday-Saturday, with the option of reserving the space for functions the other days of the week.

Sante restaurateur Jeremy Hansen did not remain in the executive chef role. An earlier story from the SR described him as the architect behind the Sapphire Lounge menu. Dicker said they chose to go separate ways.

Paul Samson, the bar manager, will still be working the lounge, said Dicker.

Sometime in May, Spokane downtowners get to test out the Sapphire Lounge, a small-bite eatery set inside the new bar area of the Hotel Ruby, 901 W. First.

An item on the new lounge, being financed and managed by Ruby owner Jerry Dicker and executive chef Jeremy Hansen, ran last week in The Spokesman-Review.

That story summarizes the food and beverage plans of Hansen, who also is executive chef at popular Spokane restaurant Sante.  Dicker also explains the goal of the Sapphire, being a way to add an intimate place for downtown visitors to grab a memorable bite and a stylish beverage.

Here is a photo showing the relatively tiny inside of the Sapphire Lounge. Mauer Construction, of Spokane, is the general contractor.

Total square footage is under 1,000 square feet. The kitchen is in the cramped, opposite corner from this point of view. The bar will be directly behind the half-height metal drywall studs.