Mall Shapes Up For Sci-Fi Sand Sculpture

An international sand sculpture champion will spend the next 11 days building a 35-ton sand sculpture inside the Spokane Valley Mall.

Billy Lee, a resident of Hawaii, will begin working on the sci-fi sculpture today. It will be a tribute to explorers of space, both real and imagined.

The project was sponsored by Pepsi Cola Co., with help from Artistic Landscaping and Central Pre-Mix, which donated the sand.

Lee will work on the project during normal business hours through May 16. He will be located in the mall’s center court near the J.C. Penney store. He won’t use supports or binding materials of any kind.

The sculpture will be displayed through June 1.

Mall gets three new businesses

Three businesses have set opening dates in the Spokane Valley Mall this month.

Maurices will hold a soft opening at its new mall store on Monday. The store’s grand opening will start May 13.

Maurices, a Minnesota-based chain of retail clothing shops, sells items for both men and women. It has one other Spokane-area store, in the NorthTown Mall.

Red Robin will open its second Spokane-area restaurant on May 24. The other is at NorthPointe Plaza in north Spokane.

The new freestanding restaurant is located in the parking lot of the Valley Mall, near Tony Roma’s.

The Valley restaurant is slightly smaller than the North Side Red Robin, but will have more extensive hours and daily visits from the Red Robin mascot.

The restaurant will stay open until 2 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. It will be open until midnight the rest of the week. The Valley Red Robin will seat about 200 people.

Lori Karstens, general manager of the Valley location, is currently hiring staff for the restaurant.

American Eagle Outfitters will open its first Spokane-area store in the Valley Mall on May 27. It plans to hold a soft opening a few days earlier.

The casual clothing store caters to the 16- to 34-year-old crowd, offering jeans, khakis, T-shirts and other casual clothing. It carries clothing styles similar to what’s found at Abercrombie & Fitch, but at lower prices. The store is comparable to Gap, The Limited and Old Navy.

American Eagle Outfitters will open a second store in the NorthTown Mall in October.

Valley bed store relocates

Comfort World, now known as Simmons Comfort World, has moved its Valley store to 14109 E. Sprague.

The new store is slightly larger and offers better visibility and more parking, said David Ziuchkovski, general manager of the three Spokane-area Comfort World stores.

Comfort World carries Simmons brand mattresses, along with futons, air beds, electric adjustable beds and other sleep-related accessories.

The store formerly was at 9827 E. Sprague.