Retailers Attempt To Get An Early Jump On Holiday Shopping Season

Halloween is long gone and the Christmas decorations already are going up.

Shoppers practically can be forced into the Christmas mood when they visit area malls.

Stores are bristling with seasonal shops that set the mood and take advantage of gift-buying and holiday-decorating time.

Eleven holiday shops are enlivening Silver Lake Mall along U.S. Highway 95 this season. They’re listed as: Hickory Farms, Coeur d’Alene Made, Cougar Ridge (Build-Your-Own Candles), Idaho Gift Co. (expanding from its permanent space), Showcase Glass, Bonnie Crain Pottery, Bear Springs Crafts, Chocolate Chalet, Nashira (gift items), Decker & Kallas (gift items) and Art Unlimited (expanding to a full shop across from Footlocker from its downtown Coeur d’Alene base).

Post Falls Factory Outlet is putting at least five holiday shops into spaces that were vacated by former “permanent” stores.

Included (and the space they are filling) are: Hickory Farms (Wallet Works), Christian Gift Outlet (Izod), Designer Sportswear (Champion-Hanes), Santa Surplus (Barbizon) and Factory Sports (Everything $1).

The most exciting new store undoubtedly will be Fuzziwig’s Candy Factory. The colors, sounds, smells, tastes and action of this place will brighten your brain.

Reminiscent of Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, this Post Falls Factory Outlet store plays upon the turn-of-the-century Industrial Revolution theme. Gizmos and klickity-klaks are everywhere as animated Professor Fuzziwig operates the Fuzzimixer, a machine that mixes ingredients such as sugars and fruits and transforms them into candies that zip through transparent transport tubes and sorts them into candy bins.

“We’re here to entertain people; it looks like a store that should be in Disneyland,” said Charlie Tarranto, who owns the store with his wife Candy (of course). “We’ll have all the nostalgic candies, including the little wax Coke bottles filled with juices.”

Offering a variety of 300 hard candies, by the piece or the pound, and candy gift items, the 1,500-square-foot store will open Nov. 26 in the space formerly occupied by the Ribbon Outlet. The Tarrantos will employ eight people between Fuzziwig’s and their nearby Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

This Fuzziwig’s is the first in the Northwest and the first in the nation to not be company-owned. It is the 12th Fuzziwig’s, with the nearest being in Denver and Phoenix.

The Tarrantos opened their Rocky Mountain store in 1991, marking their return to North Idaho after a sojourn to Santa Barbara, Calif.

Off the same I-90 exit as Factory Outlets, a new Subway sandwich store is under construction across from the Burger King in Expo Park on the north side of the freeway.

Developer is Redding Brothers Investments of Spokane, which is leasing the building to Scott McCandless of INBD of Spokane. It is his 15th Subway in the Inland Northwest.

Planned for a later December opening, the 1,500-square-foot store will include seating for 36 people and a drive-through. It will employ about eight people.

With this new business, while the owner’s away, the cats can still play.

Taking advantage of several years’ experience with large and small animals, Barbara Ford has started the Very Important Pet Sitting Service.

She specializes in taking care of pets while the owners are absent or busy. This includes feeding and watering, exercising critters and dispensing medications.

She also will make the house look “lived in” by bringing in mail and newspapers, adjusting draperies and lights and caring for plants. She’ll also provide security checks and feed the outdoor birds.

A native of New York City, Ford came to Coeur d’Alene in 1981 from Bozeman, Mont. She owned and showed horses for many years and has had Barb’s Dog Obedience School for 13 years. She has completed animal care courses through Colorado State University and Montana State University.

Phone 777-7050.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Nils Rosdahl The Spokesman-Review