Pelicans Roosting At Highway 95 And Cherry Lane In Coeur D’Alene

Even the name is appealing “Pelicans.”

Combining the features of both previous occupants, Pelicans Restaurant opened last week at Highway 95 and Cherry Lane, in front of Tidyman’s, in Coeur d’Alene.

The lunch and dinner restaurant combines the barbecue specialty of the Stampede Restaurant, which it was called when it opened several years ago, and the seafood specialties of Monarch Fisheries, its most-recent name.

The owners, Deb Kruse and Tina Bales, are former employees of Monarch Fisheries. They remodeled the building to incorporate the former fish market portion of the building into the seating area. The result is seating for 80 people at tables, booths and a counter in front of the cooking area.

Featured foods include Texas barbecue items, such as beef brisket, baby back ribs and pork ribs, and seafood, including crab cakes, jumbo coconut prawns and sushi ahi (Hawaiian tuna).

The restaurant has 10 employees and is open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., Mondays through Saturdays. A champagne brunch will be added in the summer.

Originally from Phoenix, Kruse came to North Idaho from San Francisco four years ago. She had vacationed here and said she moved to take advantage of the quality of life. Bales came to North Idaho about five years ago from El Paso.

Phone 769-2036.

Late Tuesday night the Coeur d’Alene Planning and Zoning Commission was to consider the request of Pep Boys to build a large auto parts and service store in the northwest corner of Highway 95 and Neider Avenue. If approved by the commission, final approval would be needed by the City Council.

Pep Boys has submitted preliminary plans for a large building on two acres that primarily would be accessible from Neider Avenue. According to a spokesman at the company headquarters in Philadelphia, the typical Pep Boys “SuperCenter” employs about 30 people in an 18,200-square-foot store that contains 40,000 items and 12 service bays. Stores typically average about $3 million in annual sales.

Pep Boys originated in 1921 and has boomed from 177 stores 10 years ago to 704 stores. The auto parts chain’s motto is: “Everything but gas.”

Nearly quadrupling in physical space, Western Underwriters has changed its name to Underwriters West and next month will move to Suite 234 at 101 Ironwood (the clocktower building) at Ironwood Drive and Government Way in Coeur d’Alene.

Specializing in writing large corporate medical insurance plans, the company came to 350 square feet of office space at 2005 Ironwood two years ago. The employees, expanding from three to five, offer services in all western states.

With partners in Orlando, Fla., the company is affiliated with Alliance Underwriters, one of the nation’s largest re-insurance companies.

Underwriters West is owned by brothers Jim and Mark Smidt, who came to North Idaho five years ago from San Diego. They wanted room, as each of their families has five children, Jim Smidt said, and they wanted “to escape the rat race.” They discovered Coeur d’Alene through friends in Spokane and were able to locate in North Idaho because their company could be run from anywhere in the West, Smidt said. Phone 765-1535.

Although owners Steve and Jane Badraun closed their major store last fall, Duncan’s Garden Center has reopened for the season in its previous location at 711 W. Kathleen Ave. in Coeur d’Alene.

“Offering everything outdoors for the gardener,” Steve Badraun said they are not occupying all of their large building, which previously had included a pet store and florist shop. “We are re-inventing ourselves. We want to be there when the North Idaho gardeners are there,” he said.

Duncan’s still fills 3,000 square feet inside the building and 10,000 square feet under cover on the 2.5-acre parcel. With 10 employees, Duncan’s is open 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays, March through October. Hours will expand as summer approaches.

The Badrauns purchased Duncan’s 25 years ago when they came to Coeur d’Alene from Oregon. He is originally from Priest River, and she came from Yorktown Heights, N.Y. They moved to their new complex from their original building on Fourth Street three years ago.

Tidbits:

Watch for a three-day sale by Coldwater Creek in the empty Coeur d’Alene Ernst building the last weekend of March.

Richard Haimann, a former North Idaho College journalism student from Germany, has written “USA der Nordwesten,” a travel guide to the Northwest Region of the United States. The 480-page paperback, written in German, contains 30 North Idaho pages with maps and photos.

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