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Tom Sowa

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News >  Business

INB paying off TARP loan

Spokane-based Northwest Bancorporation, the parent company of Inland Northwest Bank, will use $12.5 million it raised recently to pay off the money it received in 2009 from the U.S. Treasury’s Troubled Asset Relief Program. In January 2009, the company applied for and received about $11 million from TARP. Created by the Treasury Department at the time when major financial institutions were failing and threatening the economy, TARP was widely seen as a bailout for troubled banks.
News >  Business

Spokane startup Direct To Schools offers one-stop supplies purchasing

A Spokane startup has launched a one-stop Web service for school districts to order a wide range of supplies and pay with a single click. Direct To Schools, which launched Dec. 3, gives public and private K-12 schools a way to price and select supplies from five categories: paper, ink/toner, custodial-janitorial, athletic supplies, and classroom items including whiteboards and projectors.
News >  Business

Spokane home sales slip, but market still looks good

Spokane home sales slid from 528 in October to 369 in November, the lowest monthly total since February. That dip may be related to financing uncertainties during the government shutdown or it may just be a seasonal slump, said Rob Higgins, executive vice president of the Spokane Association of Realtors.
News >  Business

Yoke’s, Rosauers urge customers to not use cards amid network hack

Some Spokane-area grocery stores, including all 12 Yoke’s Fresh Markets and 21 Rosauers stores, are telling customers that debit and credit card payments won’t be processed normally while investigators try to secure a computer network that was hacked over the past two months. The data breach was reported in recent weeks by local banks and credit unions.
News >  Business

Slow economic growth expected in Spokane region, experts say

A longtime regional economic forecaster on Wednesday told Spokane business leaders they should learn a lesson from long-suffering fans of the Chicago Cubs baseball team. “For Cubs fans, it’s always ‘wait until next year,’ ” said John Mitchell, speaking to several hundred people at the annual Greater Spokane Incorporated economic forecast.
News >  Business

Spokane Convention Center hotel groundwork underway

Construction crews have dug a 12-foot-deep hole across an entire city block south of the Spokane Convention Center, laying the foundation and footings for what will be Spokane’s largest hotel. The 15-floor, 720-room hotel project is estimated to cost roughly $50 million.
News >  Business

Thanks, but no sale: Local retailers won’t be open on holiday

While some consumers are signing Facebook pledges to refuse to shop on Thanksgiving, several Spokane store owners are keeping their doors shut on Nov. 28 to underline the same message: It’s a holiday, not a shopping day. Many large national retail chains have announced plans to open their doors on Thanksgiving evening to “Black Friday” shoppers looking for early bargains. But independent retailers contacted here say they won’t ruin a family holiday in order to generate more sales.
News >  Business

Display House, Spokane Valley costume and party supplier, plans to close

The Display House, a popular Spokane Valley costume and party supplies retailer, will close its doors at the end of the year, saying weak Halloween sales were the nail in the coffin after more than 30 years in business. “Halloween is pretty much our make it or break it event,” said Nick Jones, the company’s vice president. Sales this Halloween were down 20 percent from last year, which was also a weak year, he said.
News >  Business

Microsoft, Washington state partner to offer free IT courses

Microsoft Corp. has expanded its online technology training program so that people can take courses for free through more than 380 public libraries. The new education partnership between one of the Northwest’s major tech companies and Washington state was announced Wednesday.
News >  Business

Spokane home sales strong in October, but prices down

Home sales in Spokane during October were the strongest for that month since 2007, but that didn’t translate into higher prices, the Spokane Association of Realtors reported. The month produced 529 single-family home sales, the third-highest monthly total this year and up from September’s 497.
News >  Business

Haskins Steel bought by L.A. company

A Los Angeles company has purchased Haskins Steel, a Spokane steel processor that’s been in business since 1955. Terms of the sale to publicly traded Reliance Steel & Aluminum Co. were not disclosed.
News >  Business

Better Business Bureau finds gold price disparity

Anyone selling gold jewelry to businesses that promise to pay “top dollar” should go the extra mile to price-compare their offers, according to a secret shopper test conducted by the Spokane Better Business Bureau. The BBB took a pocketful of gold jewelry to 12 area shops and compared how much each shop was willing to pay for the items.
News >  Business

Venture capitalists invest in Liberty Lake’s 2nd Watch Inc.

Liberty Lake technology company 2nd Watch Inc. has landed $23 million from venture capitalists. The new money from Columbia Capital and Madrona Venture Group brings the total investment received by 2nd Watch to $28 million since its launch in 2010, CEO Kris Bliesner said.
News >  Business

Spokane’s Masonic Center sells for $1.1 million

An Australian businessman who moved to Spokane five years ago has paid $1.1 million to take over ownership of the stately Masonic Center, one of the city’s largest and oldest meeting places. The buyer is Greg Newell, 50, who’s president of equipment manufacturing firm Power Handling Inc. This week Newell and some family partners bought the 108-year old Masonic Center at 1108 W. Riverside Ave. The 110,000-square-foot building has been for sale since October 2012.
News >  Business

Inland Northwest Index shows regional growth lagging

The Hart Capital Inland Northwest Index’s third-quarter performance showed lackluster growth of 3.7 percent, a figure that could have been worse if not for the strong performance by regional banks. In that same period the Nasdaq Composite index rose 10.7 percent and the S&P 500 index rose 5.1 percent.
News >  Business

Dutch’s building sold to Bobby Brett, Spokane Chiefs owner

Bobby Brett, owner of the Spokane Indians baseball team and Spokane Chiefs hockey team, and investor Chris Batten have purchased the historic Dutch’s building at 415 W. Main Ave. The partners say they plan to restore the early 20th-century building and fill it with retail tenants. The sale is bittersweet for former owners Mary Singer and Rick Singer, her brother-in-law. The building has belonged to the Singer family since the 1960s.
News >  Business

New app facilitates texting between firms, customers

A Spokane startup has developed a mobile app that helps companies exchange batches of texts with customers. Aaron Rollins, the CEO of Business Texter, said the app gives companies a more interactive and responsive way to communicate than through email or social media.
News >  Business

Small liquor stores in Washington struggle with taxes

A year and change after private liquor sales began in Washington, nearly two dozen mostly small retailers are in danger of losing their licenses for failing to pay the required taxes and fees. Two are in the Inland Northwest: Owners of the Colville Liquor & Wine store and Deer Park Liquor & Wine say they’re behind in payments because of a new 17 percent licensing fee on all sales. That fee is on top of the 10 percent excise tax added to all liquor sales.
News >  Business

Washington may lose federal jobs grant

The federal government has awarded $2.7 million to Washington state agencies to improve job training and regain manufacturing jobs that have gone overseas. The federal investment, announced by the Department of Commerce, is called the Make it in America Challenge. Its goal is to make U.S. manufacturing firms more competitive.