On Monday Itron Inc. announced that Philip Mezey, who's been at Itron since 2003, will step into the CEO and president's role at the end of the year. He's taking over for LeRoy Nosbaum, who is retiring for the second time in three years. Nosbaum…
View Larger Map Physical Therapy Associates has completed its move into new offices at 2507 E. 27th on Spokane’s South Hill. The company has operated for more than 20 years at an office on South Grand Blvd. The move, to a clinic with 9,200 square…
Marketing works. But how best to market in a digital world? GSI is looking for ways to help area business owners answer the question. Later this week -- Thursday -- it's hosting a session termed "Online Marketing, Taking the Next Step." The three hour BizStreet…
Lots of folk hereabouts are excited about the new Total Wine store, on Newport Highway in north Spokane. Those who aren't are probably working at Costco. The gigantic Total Wine operation is the gorilla that Costco should have seen coming when Costco spent millions in…
In the next week The SR will give readers a close-hand view of the new Waste Management SMaRT recycling center, at 2902 S. Geiger Blvd. That's where the county's residents are sending their recycables, now being collected in those new blue single-stream curbside bins. Among…
Key Tronic Corp. had record quarterly revenue for the first quarter of fiscal 2013. The Spokane Valley contract manufacturer has been on a slow and steady roll. It keeps winning customers and hanging onto their business. Total quarterly revenue came to $97.5 million, up 40…
The newsy part of last Saturday's business story on Spokane Industries was the report of a record harvest for grapes in Washington state. According to Erica Waliser of the Washington State Wine Commission, 2012 will break the harvest record: 190,000 tons of grapes will be…
The company that closed C.I. Shenanigans said it wants to reopen in Spokane but is having trouble finding the right spot. RAM International CEO Jeff Iverson said Spokane’s been a good market for Shenanigans, which operated for 32 years near the Spokane River just north…
Needless to say, the story about Avista Corp. offering buyouts to most of its workers, which ran online Tuesday, caught lots of attention. It engendered dozens of comments as well, covering the usual spectrum. In case you want to know how generous (or not) the…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Numbers are supposed to be neutral and generally behave the same, no matter who handles then. But in many instances, including home sale prices, the numbers vary depending on the source. CoreLogic, one of the country's leading real estate data gathering firms, said in its…
This being labor day, two SR writers (Tom Sowa and Scott Maben) produced a story running Sunday that looks at what the local economy offers for job growth. One piece of information that popped up in the research was a report on the number of…
Today's regional story about a vote at the Airway Heights City Council had a legalistic issue tucked away and not easily elaborated on. The story noted that two Spokane County commissioners -- Al French and Todd Mielke -- argue that a 2010 county agreement with…
This is the promo video produced by Synaptics, the company that acquired the technology developed by Pacinian, a promising North Idaho startup doing smart things with very thin pads and screens. The acquisition by Synaptics was two weeks ago. This short video summarizes the advantages…
Microsoft has released its new logo. It's the first serious change to the four-colored window theme logo in 25 years. A company blog notes: The Microsoft brand is about much more than logos or product names. We are lucky to play a role in the…
Two of Spokane’s well-known but cash-strapped buildings concluded foreclosure sales Friday, shutting the file on separate cases of large commercial properties falling victim to a distressed real estate market. The 17-story Wells Fargo Tower at 601 W. First and the six-level Holley Mason Building at…
REPOSTING, and we apologize. Don't know how but we managed to confuse Gato with surgeryGirl. Trust us, it's an easy mistake when no one uses their real names anymore when posting to forums. We're not even halfway done with our Atticus coffee card commitment. Where…
A week ago we tossed out some numbers on how the Spokane housing market is gaining steam. Notably, median sales of homes sold in Spokane County were at $170,000, the best since July 2010. If you want a statewide perspective, we just found what you're…
So it's now official that Las Vegas-based Allegiant Air will start flying weekly flights from Spokane to Oahu. The story appeared on Spokesman.com earlier today. Some notable and not well-known facts about low-fare Allegiant. It flies into and out of 80 cities, including Bellingham, Wash.…
The London Olympics are right around the corner. Which means, someone out there totally thinks they have a timely idea for a themed book. But I'm pretty sure it's not this book, "Inside the Beijing Olympics," by Jeff Ruffalo. He just emailed me (and probably…
First off, no, we won't hand out a coupon for Total Wine to the winner of this Office Hours contest. Last week we ran a story describing plans by Total Wine to open two big megastores in Spokane. Total Wine, you might remember, is one…
We went over to the Gonzaga neighborhood recently and found Spokane artist Tom Quinn hard at work on the final touches of a mural being added to the University Bar & Grill. We were struck by two things: John Stockton (who apparently didn't want his…
