New business will be a soft sell

Two Post Falls High School buddies are about to open a new store in River Park Square selling foam-filled chairs geared toward the younger generation.

That’s partially because they’re young themselves — Tim Mitchell is 20, and his partner Matt Logan is 21. Mitchell said he’s always had an entrepreneurial bent because everyone on his dad’s side of the family owns their own business.

“We went to college for a day and figured out it wasn’t our deal,” Mitchell said. They did, however, go through entrepreneur training at the Workforce Training Center in Post Falls, run by North Idaho College.

Mitchell and Logan were working at a Coeur d’Alene restaurant and looking for a product to sell or manufacture when they came across beanbag-style chairs and decided to make their own. In August, they opened It’s in the Bag at the Spokane Valley Mall, selling the bags they manufactured and other furniture and lighting accessories.

Then they discovered the Foof Chair, created by a company called Comfort Research in Michigan and sold in stores there called Fizz Living. The chairs are round, like beanbag chairs, but are filled with shredded foam. The Foof Chair comes in 60 different colors, five different fabrics and a variety of sizes.

Mitchell and Logan talked to the president of Comfort Research, Mitchell said, and struck a deal to open Fizz Living stores in this area. In addition to the Foof Chairs, they will sell contemporary lighting fixtures, magazine racks, waste baskets and other furniture. They also hope to open stores in Seattle and Southern California.

“This will be their prototype for future stores,” said Bob Smith, who manages River Park Square.

The River Park Square store is scheduled to open March 1 in 2,000 square feet on the skywalk level, between Regis and Aveda. It will employ five people, Mitchell said.

“We’re younger so we know what younger people like,” Mitchell said. “Our demographic is a younger crowd, 18 to 35.”