Building Purchase Gives Restaurant Owner Room For Future Expansion

Ruben Briseno is a man who thinks in the future tense.

The owner of Toro Viejo Restaurant and Lounge in Coeur d’Alene, Briseno had just signed a seven-year lease for his business at 117 N. Second St. when he discovered the building next door was for sale. He bought it.

He’s happy and successful where he is with the Mexican restaurant that he started six years ago, but he’s looking to the day when he can move into the building he now owns at 115 N. Second. The long-range possibility with the move includes opening the building’s loft to lake and park views by adding windows on the south and west walls. The current tenant, Sandra Kay’s women’s shop, is there to stay for a while.

Originally from Mexico, Briseno came to North Idaho from Corona, Calif., after visiting relatives in Spokane. He and his mother, Gerania Briseno, started Toro Viejo in 1992.

Lighted furniture, combining specialty hardwoods and stained glass with built-in electrical connections, is the product of Moonstruck Lighting, a manufacturing business now open in Bay 8 at 11100 Airport Drive in Hayden.

Featuring planters, aquarium stands and tables, Moonstruck sells wholesale to companies such as banks and motels. The business is part of the Panhandle Area Council’s business incubation program.

Acquaintances for 30 years, mainstays in the company are manager Judy Carel, Coeur d’Alene, bookkeeper Elizabeth Kennedy of Sprague, Wash., and master carpenter Brian Siperly. He uses black walnut, cherry, African zebra wood and red and white oak in building furniture.

Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Phone 667-3007.

A fixture in Coeur d’Alene now in its 26th year, the Iron Horse Restaurant and Lounge at 407 Sherman Ave. has added a new dimension with a non-smoking bar.

The new area compliments and won’t change the existing (smoking-allowed) lounge, the restaurant or the businesses’ banquet and catering facilities. In fact, Tom Robb, who owns the business with sons Aaron and Mike, hopes the addition will attract customers to dine and remain for a drink in their choice of non-smoking or smoking bar areas.

“We are a cocktail lounge that serves good food,” Robb said. Based on liquor receipts, the Iron Horse is the busiest bar is Coeur d’Alene and the 13th busiest in the state.

Robb was raised in Boise and taught business at Coeur d’Alene High School and North Idaho College before opening the Iron Horse. Aaron, a graduate of Notre Dame University, is owner-manager of the Iron Horse in Coeur d’Alene, and Mike, a product of Arizona State University, owns and manages the Spokane business.

Duncan’s Florist Shop is very much alive, despite the closing of the huge Duncan’s Garden Center on Kathleen Avenue in Coeur d’Alene.

Jeanette Marjamaa, who managed the floral portion of the garden center for 20 years, purchased it from Steve and Jane Badraun and now has the business in a new strip mall in the southwest corner of Highway 95 and Orchard Ave. in Hayden. Her 2,200-square-foot store is between the Idaho State Liquor Store and the Subway shop.

Specializing in weddings and fresh-cut flowers, the business also offers houseplants and gifts from baskets, wreaths and wall decor to Spokandy products. The four employees include Kim Normand, who has been with the business 15 years.

Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Phone 762-2341.

Dave Bro of Coeur d’Alene is in the process of connecting North Idaho businesses to the Internet through a new service called Shopper Mart.

With his Bro-Ad Systems business, he utilizes his computer skills and the Internet in a Web page kiosk for advertisers and connected news items. Bro focuses on the local market and uses a system that he says is two to three times faster than pages with comparable graphics, such as coupons good at local businesses. He is hoping to develop the service for franchises.

Bro, who graduated from Coeur d’Alene High School and Western Montana College, has been in the advertising and marketing business 26 years.

His Web site is www.shoppermart.com and his phone is 777-03712.

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