Rud-Chain Expanding Into New Distribution Center In Coeur D’Alene

Drivers do nearly anything they can to avoid putting chains on their tires when they encounter hazardous driving conditions.

Imagine the challenge if your tire chains weigh 9,200 pounds each!

That’s the biggest chain of the thousands of tire chains that Rud-Chain of Coeur d’Alene supplies to truckers and heavy equipment operators in the Western United States and Canada. The 9,200-pound chain is used by front-end loader vehicles. Perhaps the other extreme are chains that are installed automatically by pushing a button on the dashboard.

Rud-Chain needs more room and is moving to the south end of the old YJ’s Market building at W. 3585 Seltice Way in Coeur d’Alene. The north end is occupied by Go-Kart Family Fun.

Rud will open in its new 12,000-square-foot space April 1, with 2,000 square feet for offices and 10,000 for warehouse. The company sells and distributes chains manufactured in Germany (for specialized vehicles), Finland (for logging trucks) and China (for standard cars and trucks).

Based in Germany for 130 years, RudChain has been in Coeur d’Alene 17 years. Its U.S. headquarters are in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The Western U.S. manager is Jim Irving in Coeur d’Alene.

For some vehicles, Irving said the hassle of installing and removing chains is erased through the pushing of a dashboard button, but that’s mainly for semis; the front-end loader and the rest of us will continue to whine, and crawl around in the snow.

Rud-Chain’s move will open 6,000 square feet in the 8,000-square-foot building owned by the Museum of North Idaho at Northwest Boulevard and Lincoln Way. For information, contact Dorothy Dahlgren at 664-3448. To contact Rud-Chain, phone 664-3433.

Expansion is becoming reality for North Idaho Fitness, which is adding 1,000 square feet to its existing 7,500 square feet in Sunset Mall at Highway 95 and Sunset Avenue in Coeur d’Alene.

The new space and complete remodeling of existing space allow for installation of $100,000 in new exercise and toning equipment, new stationery bikes, free weights and Cam-Star exercise units, used by the U.S. Olympic team, said gym owner Lee Wheeler.

The new space and equipment allows the addition of two employees to the existing 14 and new spinning classes. No, the spinning classes don’t use yarn. Participants do aerobics on stationery bikes.

Wheeler left Huntington Beach, Calif., to play football for Eastern Washington University in 1982. He graduated from Long Beach State in exercise physiology and came to North Idaho in 1994 from Santa Cruz, where he managed a fitness club.

The changes at North Idaho Fitness will be complete next week, and the grand reopening will be March 12. Phone 664-6213.

Watson Agency, a security guard company, has expanded far past its Coeur d’Alene base. Owned by former Kootenai County Sheriff Rocky Watson, the 16-year-old company has opened offices in Helena and Missoula in addition to its offices in Coeur d’Alene and Colville, Wash.

The expansion comes through new contracts with Montana government agencies, including the Montana capital buildings, federal buildings in Western Montana and the prison needs for Missoula County.

Watson, who was sheriff from 1976-80, opened the company with 20 employees. With its services including the training of armed and unarmed guards, the company has grown to 300 employees in four Northwest states and British Columbia.

A native of Moscow, Watson was educated at Post Falls High School, North Idaho College and the University of Oregon. To contact Watson Agency, phone 664-9500.

Tidbits:

Cook’s Steel Building & Roofing will move into the 13,000-square-foot building under construction at Mullan Road and Pines Ave. in Post Falls, in mid-April. The 28-year-old construction company, owned by Gary Cook, will occupy about 2,000 square feet. Janek Realty will occupy 2,400 square feet and is the leasing agent for the 8,600 square feet available.

The sale of Old America Stores to a Tennessee company will not affect operations of the Coeur d’Alene outlet at 1304 N. Fourth St. The store has 13 employees.

A new Body & Bath Works store will open April 1 in Silver Lake Mall in Coeur d’Alene. The personal care products store will occupy 2,100 square feet formerly held by Gwen’s Gifts, which has moved across Highway 95 to the Orvis building. One of 925 stores in the U.S. and Great Britain, Body & Bath Works is a sister store to Victoria’s Secret, The Limited and Lerner’s of New York. Headquarters are in Columbus, Ohio.

, DataTimes MEMO: Nils Rosdahl’s column appears in the Idaho edition of The Spokesman-Review on Wednesday.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Nils Rosdahl The Spokesman-Review