Jay Underwood has gone from Edo to Miso. Actually, his two new eateries are named Miso Fresh Asian.

Underwood opened the first Miso Fresh Asian last week at NorthTown Mall. This Friday he opens one in the food court at River Park Square. Both take the spots of the former Edos he ran in those two malls.

He describes the cuisine as Southeast Asian street vendor food. He also likes the idea of having all ingredients visible by customers. He incorporated a trait he thinks Subway has used well — giving customers a full selection and view of fresh ingredients.

Edo Japan was a franchise connected to a Canadian parent firm. Last year the parent firm decided not to renew many of its U.S. deals, Underwood said. That led him to strike out on his own, with Miso.

Underwood gives the menu's culinary credit to Chef Curtis Smith. The stores were designed by Paint Room Studios, owned by Dawn Kiki and Catherine Boles. 

They incorporated recycled glass countertops, and selected tile that resembles wood and cork. Each store has a striking glass mosaic that wraps the stove hood.

And no, the cooks there don't use woks. In keeping with an agreement with mall managers, Miso can't use a “wok,” because another eatery established itself as the sole “wok-based” business inside the mall

Underwood said the solution was to use stir-fry pans. “In fact, that's the name for what we use, 'stir-fry pans,' ” he said.

River Park Square is owned by the Cowles Co., which also owns and publishes The Spokesman-Review and Spokesman.com.

A while back we mentioned national health and beauty product retailer Sephora would move into River Park Square, in downtown Spokane. It's taking about half the space vacated two years ago when Abercrombie & Fitch moved out.

We learned today the opening day is April 5.

The company already has in-store locations at NorthTown Mall and Spokane Valley Mall. This will be the company's first full stand-alone location in Spokane.

RPS is owned by Cowles Co. The Spokesman-Review is owned by Cowles Co. Spokesman.com receives no special information from RPS. The newspaper has no connection with River Park Square and treats it as just another retail mall.

Starting this week and running through Jan. 1, Eastern Washington University Foundation is running a kiosk in River Park Square to sell Eagles items.

The new North Face Store, which took over the River Park Square space held by Talbot's, will open on Friday Sept. 30.

The outdoor gear retailer has been working on its interior for the past two months. If there's going to be any sort of grand opening with special attractions, we'll put something here later to call attention to that.

Disclaimer: River Park Square is owned by the Cowles Co., which also owns and operates The Spokesman-Review.

Still no word on who might take the 8,000 square feet of space last used by Abercrombie & Fitch in River Park Square, in downtown Spokane.

But Vivo, a Coeur d'Alene-based retailer of clothes and other household wares will take a spot up on the third floor, River Park Square announced on Monday.

Vivo has stores in CDA, Spokane Valley and North Spokane (at NorthTown Mall).

About Nov. 1, Vivo will move into the space between Claire's and the AT&T store. Vivo is owned by Dale and Shawnda Rainey of Post Falls.

River Park Square is owned and operated by the Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review newspaper.

The spot in River Park Square last used by Godiva Chocolatier will be taken over by another chocolate franchise.

Rachelle and Aaron Blackmer, who run one Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory store on Sullivan Road in the Valley, will open their second area franchise inside River Park Square on or about May 20. Godiva closed down in January.

The couple has been in the Valley for more than two years. They'll fill the spot under the escalator on the main floor. They expect to have five employees, said Rachelle Blackmer.

About 60 percent of the items they sell they make themselves; the rest is provided by Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory's main office.

Big sellers are the 30 or so different flavor caramel apples. The No. 2 top seller is dipped strawberries.

Fudge and other confections will also be sold.

RPS is owned by the Cowles Co. The Spokesman-Review is an affiliate of Cowles Co.

Ben Bridge Jeweler, the well-known retailer of rings, gems and pendants, will open a store in River Park Square this summer.

RPS is managed by the Cowles Co., which also owns and operates The Spokesman-Review.

A release Thursday noted Ben Bridge will move into the first-level space occupied by The Walking Company, the footwear retailer.

Walking Company will take over the second-level location last used by Sunglass Hut. Sunglass Hut has already moved into a new second-level kiosk due west of the escalators.

Demolition work is underway on the Sunglass Hut shop just off the escalator.

Ben Bridge, founded about 100 years ago, operates locations across the country. It has one other Spokane store in NorthTown Mall.

Verizon launches its sales blitz of the iPhone 4 with stores here opening bright and early Thursday.

We know the River Park Square Verizon location will open two hours early, at 7 a.m., to meet the first wave of buyers. Doors to the atrium will open at 4 a.m. to let shoppers get the line started.

All other River Park Square stores will open at 10 a.m.

Other Verizon stores in the region are likely following suit.

An assistant manager at the downtown store said the staff is gathering in RPS at 4:30 a.m. to prepare.

RPS is owned and operated by the Cowles Co., which also operates The Spokesman-Review.

Mall rats can start guessing which new retailer will move into the kiosk in River Park Square vacated by Godiva Chocolate.

Bob Smith, the guy who manages the RPS, told us talks have nearly concluded with a retailer expected to take over that spot, on the main floor of the downtown Spokane mall.

Godiva closed down on Monday after operating in that spot for 10 years. Most RPS leases run 10 years.

Smith, who works for Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review, said the new tenant fits a category currently “underrepresented” by other retailers in RPS.

What could that be?  Probably not food. Clothing?  Only if one thinks niche apparel.

Smith said the decision to refresh the kiosk operators follows a regular review of customer wants and wishes. Customers are apparently telling the management they don't want chocolate as much as something else they want.

Smith added that total sales at the kiosks is another factor for review. RPS collects a portion of monthly or quarterly sales as part of the lease agreement.

Once we know who's going in, we'll announce it.

The River Park Square Godiva Chocolatier kiosk shut down Monday, Jan. 24, with no formal statement on the reason.

A River Park Square mall spokesperson confirmed the closure but had nothing else to add. Another mall tenant, clothing retailer Abercrombie & Fitch, shut its doors last week.

The kiosk has been there at least since 2000. 

Cowles Co., which also operates The Spokesman-Review and spokesman.com, owns and manages River Park Square.

Sushi Maru, a kaiten-style sushi restaurant, opens its doors on Friday in the former spot of Sawtooth Grill in River Park Square. Kaiten restaurants use conveyor belts with foods on plates that pass by diners’ tables. Diners pull off the items they want.

Sushi Maru is run by Paul Choi, a Bellevue owner of a number of kaiten restaurants in western Washington.  Choi has stocked Sushi Maru with an extensive sake bar in the restaurant lounge. It will seat 145, counting lounge and dining area.

Plates are equipped with microchips that keep track of how long they sit on the conveyor belt. After an hour, food items not selected get pulled off, to insure that customers get fresh choices.

Hours are 11 a.m. to close Monday through Saturday, noon to close on Sunday. Disclaimer: River Park Square is owned by Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

We wonder when workers downtown at the new Apple store will install the stainless steel plate and laminated Apple logo to the front of the two-story building.

Until you see it, here are a few drawings from the city’s building permits that show the basic plan and roughly what it looks like. The front wall of the building will be about 34 feet high, to the roofline, and about 41 feet wide along the sidewalk. The doorway will be roughly 7 feet in height.

In a soon-to-be-posted second Apple retail update, we’ll post a short video of the work taking place there, at 710 W. Main in downtown Spokane.

Officially, Apple Inc. still hasn’t announced this is an Apple store.

The company doing the construction work at the former Eddie Bauer building, in downtown Spokane, recently painted a plywood sheet black to block views of renovations inside the retail office space, at 710 W. Main.

We knew for months that this is the Apple retail store going into River Park Square. Today a workman was adding a stenciled Apple logo to the black wall. We got this image. This is just a temporary wall but it’s the only “official” indication the store is going in. Sometime in the fall the store logo will be added to the facade.

We asked Apple headquarters for comment and received a note saying no announcement yet has been made. Which is Apple’s way of saying, “It doesn’t count until we say it does.”

The opening will be in the fall but an exact date isn’t set yet.

This is not exactly big or surprising news. Jos. A. Bank, a menswear retailer, will move from its current 811 W. Main address in downtown Spokane to a new location in River Park Square, opening in November.

Jos. A. Bank is taking the spot down the street previously leased by Talbots. Talbots has not said if it will open a new area store.

The Mobius Science Center will take over the ground level of 811 and 809 W. Main, opening its doors in 2012, its nonprofit board announced this week.

Both buildings — River Park Square and the West 809 Building across the street — are owned by the Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

Downtown Spokane women’s clothing retailer Talbots is leaving its 706 W. Main location, effective Aug. 21. Its lease expires the end of this month, a Talbot’s employee told us today.

We’ll provide some kind of reward — non-monetary— for the reader who can convince us they really know who will move into that location.

Disclosure: We work for the Cowles Co., which also operates River Park Square, Talbot’s landlord. We asked company officials who would go in there. They were mum, as of Tuesday.

I’m guessing the company taking that spot outbid Talbots when the lease came up for renewal. Whoever that company is, they might feel it’s to their advantage to be next door to 710 W. Main, where Apple will open a retail store this fall.

Apple is taking over the location of Eddie Bauer, one door west of Talbots.

A raft of new restaurants are spreading across the Inland Northwest.

We’ve spotted about 10 new or expanded locations here and in North Idaho. They include the White House Grill on the South Hill, Savory, Italia Trattoria in Browne’s Addition, Ciao Mambo going into the Lincoln Plaza building downtown, and the Manito Brewing Co.  If you know of others, leave a comment here or offer more information.

One interesting new business is the planned Sushi Maru, moving this fall into downtown Spokane. It would be the fourth restaurant operated by Bellevue-based Sushi Maru group. All  those places use the kaiten approach to sushi.

Kaiten is the style of serving food in which conveyor belts (or water channels, in some instances) move plates of food past dining tables. Customers grab whatever plate strikes their fancy.

Sushi Maru owner Paul Choi is taking the spot in River Park Square occupied since 2000 by Sawtooth Grill. Disclosure: RPS is run by the Cowles Co., which also owns The Spokesman-Review.

We left a message for the Sawtooth Grill manager to call us with plans for that business, but haven’t heard yet. Choi said he intends to open Spokane’s first Sushi Maru by Black Friday this fall. Photo here is of Choi’s main restaurant in Bellevue.

We’d known for awhile that contractors were filing and obtaining permits needed before Apple Inc. moves into a new Apple Store in downtown Spokane.

We found the permits online and ran a story this afternoon. It’s here.

The managing architect for the $400,000 remodel is listed as Dimple Manghani of MBH Architects, based in Alameda Calif. MBH lists as its clients Apple, J Crew and Target.

The online permits filed on behalf of Apple in Spokane are at https://aca.spokanepermits.org/CitizenAccess.  To find them, use the address search box, with 710 W. Main.

Search for 710 W. Main, the former address of Eddie Bauer’s River Park Square Store, to see the listed permits. No opening date is listed anywhere, though we have city sources suggesting it won’t be until August or September.  Just in time for school.

Outdoor clothing retailer Eddie Bauer closed its downtown Spokane retail store recently, leaving only an outlet store in the Spokane Valley, the Bellevue-based company said Friday.

Spokeswoman Sarah Redgrave said Eddie Bauer does not comment on store closures or openings. She declined to say if a new Spokane store is in the works.

“This is a normal course of business,” Redgrave said.

The store, at 710 W. Main, has been a tenant of River Park Square since 1997, after it closed another downtown store one year earlier.

Bob Smith, chief operating officer of River Park Square, said discussions were continuing with a tenant interested in the location. He said the decision to not renew the lease with Eddie Bauer was “a mutual decision.”

On Feb. 22 this year The Spokesman-Review reported that Apple Inc. was interested in launching — and hiring for — a Spokane downtown Apple Store.

The retail community got very excited, the Apple fan base got very enthusiastic.

But Apple’s spokespeople never would say when the store would come to town. A Craigslist ad said it would go into River Park Square, a downtown mall owned by The Cowles Co., the same company that owns The Spokesman-Review.

Recently, Apple Spokeswoman Amy Barney said the tech company has nothing new to add, other than what was earlier reported.

Efforts to get more information on whether the first plan has changed, and when any store would arrive, have not been successful.