An Eye On Expansion
The severity of the upcoming winter can be good news or bad news for Duane Alton and his dozen automotive stores.
“If it’s a hard winter, we’ll sell a lot of snow tires,” he explained. “If it’s a soft winter, our Post Falls store will open sooner.”
His general expectation is that the 12,000-square-foot store at 1920 Schneidmiller Ave. will open next summer. The 12-bay store, with up to 24 employees, will be south of I-90 and just east of the Anderson Bros. CPA building.
Alton came to Spokane from O’Neill, Neb., in 1956, when he was with the Air Force at Geiger Field. He said the Post Falls store will be like the new store in Liberty Lake. It will include a showroom, offices and “fancy” restrooms, Alton said.
Alton started his first store with two bays in Spokane in 1964. Spokane’s Sullivan Avenue store, which will open next month, will be his 11th and bring total employment to more than 100 employees. The Alton Centers service “everything under the hood and everything under the car, brakes to batteries and tires to tuneups.”
The range is from dirt to donachers (the nickname for 10-ton boulders the size of small automobiles) at Idaho Rock Products.
Brad O’Connell, a Coeur d’Alene native, recently purchased the 30-acre quarry near Highway 53 about a mile west of Highway 95.
With connections to locate nearly any type of product “that Mother Nature makes,” O’Connell said he can provide a multitude of sizes, colors and designs of rock or block for landscaping and building anything from retaining walls to waterfalls.
A city of Coeur d’Alene employee for 11 years, O’Connell also owns O’Connell Trucking, which comes in handy for rock or road work. Idaho Rock Products’ hours are 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sundays. Phone 687-1111.
Offering a variety of floral, gift and interior decor items, Country Elegance opened last weekend in Post Falls’ Prime Outlets. In the space formerly occupied by Royal Dalton, the store is next to the Corning-Revere store on the south side of West Riverbend Avenue.
Moving from its former location on West Seltice Way, the store “now has the room to operate the fresh floral part of our business in addition to properly display our exclusive lines of merchandise such as Cottage Furniture and Briar Patch Candles,” said owner Donna Bligh.
With four employees, Country Elegance is open 9:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Phone 457-1361.
With plans for 10 employees offering a variety of personal care services, Salon Bella Dona opens today at 211 Lakeside Ave., Coeur d’Alene. The shop is in the space formerly occupied by the Blue Moon Cafe just east of T.W. Fisher’s Brewpub.
Opening with three hairstylists, the shop hopes to include two nail specialists, a skin specialist, a personal trainer, a massage therapist and two additional hairstylists.
Transferring from the Northern Highlights shop in Hayden, owners are Lori Allen, who came to North Idaho in 1997 from Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Michelle Foeller, who came from Roundup, Mont., in 1990. Sharman Peterson is the third stylist.
Salon Bella Dona is open Tuesday through Saturday. Phone 667-6276.
Highlighted by a waterfall and a creek separating the floral and gift portions of the store, A Garden of Memories’ new building is under construction on the north side of Dalton Avenue between Highway 95 and Government Way.
The 4,000-square-foot space will replace the store’s current 2,000 square feet next to Las Chavelas Restaurant in Sunset Mall. A garage will be attached for delivery vans.
Owner Sue Bergom moved from Riverside, Calif., seven years ago after reading about, then visiting, North Idaho. She started the store on Fourth Street four years ago. The new store is slated to open in late October with seven employees. Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays. Phone 666-9307.
Tidbits:
Both the China Gate Restaurant in Coeur d’Alene and the Cotton Club in Hayden are closed temporarily for remodeling.
The Edwards Theatre chain, which owns hundreds of movie houses, has filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The company doesn’t have theaters in North Idaho, but its new 9,000-square-foot retreat center on Carlin Bay on Lake Coeur d’Alene will not be affected.