An Eye On Success
They enjoy their jobs so much that they can be found in the office up to 12 hours a day and on weekends. To them, their work is much like play.
The three young men at Eye-Con Productions use digital and visual effects and animation, primarily through computers, to produce custom videos, such as for television commercials, and artwork for logos, posters and campaigns. Their products include Legends Casino ads with three-dimensional boxing playing cards in action.
“Our main ingredient is to have fun,” said Tanner Emerson, who owns the business with brothers Josh Hurd and Jake McClure. “We can create multimedia effects and make signs to go on buses, ads for TV and animation for anything.”
They rent 2,200 square feet at 412 Sherman Ave. in Coeur d’Alene, with a production studio under construction. They use state-of-the-art equipment and have built much of their own furniture.
The owners are mostly self-taught through their interests in animation and computers. Emerson is a Coeur d’Alene native who was educated at North Idaho College, and Hurd and McClure came to North Idaho about 10 years ago from the San Diego area.
Eye-Con (meaning to tease or “con” the eye) hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays or by appointment. Phone 765-2083 or email at eyecon@nidlink.com.
Across the hall from Eye-Con in the Sherman Arms Building, owner Hara Fernandes and employee Shelly Thompson offer advertising and design work at Studio H.
With the motto “Small agency, big ideas,” they have produced mailers and posters for the upcoming Festival at Sandpoint and work for other clients such as Idaho Trust, the Coeur d’Alene Downtown Association and Rockwood Clinic.
Fernandes came to North Idaho from Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Thompson came from Kent, Wash., through the graphic arts department at Spokane Falls Community College. Their hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays. Phone 765-6593, email hara@studio-h.com or visit their Web site at www.studio-h.com.
Major remodeling and additions of a combination A&W and Subway restaurant and a fast-photo lab will boost Stein’s IGA of Rathdrum to 40,000 square feet and 90 employees.
Construction should start this week and end this fall. Plans include a fast-food drive-through, a Northwest Photo and Imaging lab and an expanded floral department.
The store will add five aisles and relocate the produce and dairy departments. Stein’s also is negotiating for a dry-cleaning dropoff. The restaurant will seat 42.
A North Idaho mainstay, the family has been in a grocery business since 1929, when Edward Stein started Stein’s Grocery & Meats in Kellogg. The family now employs more than 200 people with stores in Kellogg, Rathdrum, Osburn and Troy, Mont. Grandchildren running the stores are Larry, Jim and Deasa in Rathdrum, Darrin in Osburn and Mark in Kellogg.
Billed as the longest golf course in the Northwest, at 7,500 yards, The Links Golf Club is under construction at N. 6400 Chase Road in Post Falls. The 145-acre course is between Chase and McGuire roads, north of Hayden Avenue.
A building permit has been issued for the 5,000-square-foot clubhouse, which will include a pro shop, food service and bar.
Rare for this area, it’s a links-style course with no trees or water hazards. The course will feature a par-6, 749-yard hole nicknamed “The Monster.”
“You’ll have to hit the ball a long way,” said Emmett Burley, who owns the property with Richard Baiter of Spokane. They hope to open next April 15 and will employ 20-25 people.
Working on the project since 1992, the complex includes an industrial park. Initial businesses are Alpine Precision and T.S. Products in a 16,000-square-foot building and Form Molders Inc., in a 35,000-square-foot facility. Phone 457-9715.
“All utilities and a rail-siding are available,” Burley said. Originally from Zanesville, Ohio, he came to Spokane from Seattle in 1964 and started Quarry Tile.