John Swiderski, the Deer Park business man who started and recently had to shut down Mean Hamster Software, has taken a job in Seattle with an online gaming company. We wrote about Swiderski and the Mean Hamster demise last month. In a world of apps,…
Those folks who battled to save the old and historic Jensen Byrd Building had their main victory last month when Campus Advantage decided to fold up and dropped plans to tear the building down. The company had signed an agreement in late 2010 with WSU…
Earlier this week Seattle-based Tully's Coffee announced it's going to file bankruptcy and reorganize to cut operating expenses. Spokane has three area Tully's coffee shops: Browne's Addition, South Hill (on 29th) and on 104 S. Freya. Heidi Happonen, a spokeswoman, said the reorganization will not…
Ready for a little more Walmart? Wal-Mart Stores will open its second Spokane Valley location on Oct. 17. That's next Wednesday. The new store, on East Sprague, is east west of the Costco store on Sprague. It plans to have roughly 350 full- and part-time…
Verizon Wireless has announced its expanding its 4G LTE network in Spokane. An announcement noted that the Spokane market is part of 37 cities who will now have even-wider coverage of high-speed LTE (long term evolution) connectivity. It also announced it's introducing 4G LTE service…
Still responding to investors urging the company to shake itself free of underperforming assets, Red Lion Hotels Corp. announced a new Sacramento franchise has joined the company brand. The Red Lion Hotel Woodlake Conference Center Sacramento has officially converted to the Red Lion. The owner…
Early holiday gift planning idea: Spokane’s Dry Fly Distilling is releasing four new spirits around Dec. 1, and expects them to sell out within two weeks. Started in 2007, Dry Fly has gradually added more choices to its initial group of two retail offerings —…
Tuesday's SR had a story on the impressive legal and professional career of William D. "Bill" Symmes, a longtime Spokane attorney and profoundly diehard sports fan. Mr. Symmes died a week ago. Among his career highlights was buying a small partial ownership in the Spokane…
Greater Spokane Inc. has scheduled a "Calculating New Health Care Costs" session for area groups or businesses, starting at 7:30 a.m. Thursday. It's at the GSI offices at 801 W. Riverside. Mark Patrick, a partner at Spokane's Moloney+O'Neill, will discouss how the new laws will…
Catching up after some time away: Sandpoint women's apparel retailer Coldwater Creek is faring better, stock-price-wise, since it went through a recent four-to-one reverse split. The change took effect last Monday on the NASDAQ exchange where CTWR trades. A number of analysts have taken note…
The unemployment rate fell in August across North Idaho and statewide, due in part to fewer people seeking jobs. The Idaho rate fell to 7.4 percent, down slightly from July. In Kootenai County, the August jobless rate was 9 percent, down from 9.3 percent the…
File this in the I-Don't-Know-How-Much-This-Matters bucket. Realtor.com keeps track of property searches on its site, and then produces some monthly statistics. For Washington cities, this is the list of the three most-searched metros for August, followed by rank across the U.S.: Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, WA #55 Portland-Vancouver,…
Liberty Lake-based Itron, Inc. announced recently it's developing and selling energy meters for the solar market. This is an annoucement altogether focused on the growing number of third-party companies that are producing solar power systems for residential or commercial buildings. In that light, what Itron…
We have to say, dang it, we wanted Mean Hamster Software to make it. But, sadly, owner John Swiderski just closed his eight-person software shop, which has operated in Deer Park since 2005. Here's the gist of an article soon to appear on Spokesman.com: JOHN…
This week's big announcement about plans by Walt and Karen Worthy included the likelihood that the new building will be co-branded with a national hotel chain. We asked again today (Friday) if the Worthys have already narrowed down the choices to one or two major…
Seattle-based Nordstrom, like another major US retailier (Walmart) has cast its eyes toward our northern neighbor. A story in today's WSJ lays out the key details: Nordstrom plans to open four stores in Canada, including three in high-profile former Sears Canada locations, as the high-end…
Today's big local business story was the announcement by Walt and Karen Worthy that they're about to begin a plan to build a large headquarter hotel near the Spokane Convention Center. They acknowledged that the plan is for a very big hotel. About 550,000 square…
Red Lion Hotels Corp. managers yesterday (Tuesday) produced some responses to last week's shot by an investor group who felt the company wasn't moving forward fast enough to make some major changes. On Tuesday managers said they’ve contacted more than 70 potential buyers but have…
Red Lion Hotels Corporation said on Wednesday it's signed a franchise agreement for a new location at the Denver airport. "Our new franchise is one of the closest hotels in proximity to the Denver International Airport, a superb location that will gain visibility for our…
The discrimation lawsuit filed by former Sterling Bank CEO Heidi Stanley remains active in Spokane's County Superior Court. Stanley is suing her former employer for wrongful termination, saying she lost her job after being diagnosed with breast cancer in spring 2009. Sterling officials say the…
The Detroit Free Press found a good story in our back yard: Nation's busiest train route plagued by long delays EAST GLACIER PARK, Mont. - Someone needs to help Amtrak's Empire Builder. The train route has been suffering lo these many years from Amtrak's budget…
LaunchPad, aka LaunchPadINW, is back into fall mode. The networking group is sponsoring a "jobseekers lunch on Sept. 21, starting at 11:30 a.m. The session is hosted by Valley staffing firm Humanix and will be at the company's office at 15920 E. Indiana. To take…
Spokane-based hotel chain Red Lion Hotels is on the receiving end of an SEC filing by Columbia Pacific Opportunity Fund, the Seattle investor group that owns 19 percent of the company's common shares. The filing is one of a number of requests made by Columbia,…
Who are the state's fastest growing private companies? My guess is that it has to include Spokane's Green Cupboards and at least a few other risers, like Imprezzio Solutions. Not according to a survey produced by Puget Sound Business Journal. We just took a look…
Seahawks fans who rely on DirecTV to see games are getting a break this Sunday. You'd think that the ongoing signal blackout imposed on KAYU-28's local feed to DirecTV subscribers would mean they'd miss this Sunday's game vs. Arizona. The blackout has continued since Aug.…
The Spokesman-Review business team follows economic development in Spokane and the Inland Northwest.
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