Former Teacher Opens New Learning Center

Sat., Dec. 6, 1997

By Angie Gaddy angieg@spokesman.com

A former teacher has opened a new learning center in the Valley Plaza shopping center.

Karen Azzinnaro, who taught fourth grade in Medical Lake, is the Huntington Learning Center franchise owner.

The learning center, which opened Nov. 17 next to Shopko on East Sprague Avenue, offers individual programs in math, language and reading for students in kindergarten through high school. It also offers SAT and GED preparation courses and workshops for parents.

“We came to the Valley because it seemed like there was a real need out here,” Azzinnaro said. She hopes to expand into the Coeur d’Alene-Post Falls area next year.

Prices range from $95 for the first assessment to between $34 and $37 per hour for instruction time.

Huntington, a New Jersey-based company, has about 150 franchises in the United States. The Valley store is the first Huntington center in Spokane.

Chinook Technologies moves

Chinook Technologies, a two-man design and development company, has moved to bigger quarters in the Spokane Business and Industrial Park.

Chinook moved last month from an 1,800-square foot space to a new, 4,800-square foot warehouse-style building at 3808 N. Sullivan Road, near the business park’s entrance.

“It was growth,” said Ron Stokes co-owner of Chinook with Greg Somers.

Chinook does design work on products ranging from electronic guitars to bicycle transmissions to dental equipment.

Stokes and Somers started the company last December. It will have generated $700,000 in sales by the end of the year, Stokes said.

The new space will allow them to begin manufacturing products.

Stokes said he expects to hire three people next year.

Burger Barn building for sale

The building that housed Norma’s Burger Barn is up for sale.

The well-known hamburger restaurant at Harvard and Wellesley in Otis Orchards closed in January.

The California owner is asking $320,000 for the 2,600-square foot building, including the restaurant equipment inside, and the half-acre on which it sits, said listing agent Shaani Claypool of RWR Northwest, a subsidiary of Spokane company RW Robideaux and Co.

After a fire three years ago, the restaurant was rebuilt and outfitted with all new kitchen equipment, Claypool said.

, DataTimes

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