Sunset Grill plans its grand opening
A combination of Hawaiian and Grecian delights dominate the menu of Sunset Grill, which will celebrate its grand opening 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday. The eat-in, take-out, business-delivery eatery is at 296 Sunset Ave. (beside North Idaho Fitness, east of Highway 95, Coeur d’Alene).
Owners Mick and Aggy Atteshis combine their pasts for the menu specialties. He is of Greek descent, hence the gyro sandwiches and Greek chicken and salad options. She had a Hawaiian barbecue snack shop in Honolulu, so teriyaki and katsu items abound. Customers have choices of dinner plates (about $7 with rice and potato salad), sandwiches, side orders, salads, soups, desserts and beverages.
The family business has five employees and seating for 30-plus customers in a casual atmosphere. Originally from England and Hawaii respectively, Mick and Aggy joined family and friends in North Idaho in March. Store hours are 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sundays. Phone 676-0123.
Internet big for Country Porch
Several of the businesses located where Government Way crosses Interstate 90 have been hurt by the one-year road closure for the rebuilding of the bridge. Not the Country Porch.
The country-style home decor and accessories store has so mightily blossomed with its countryporch.com Web site that on-site retail sales practically are insignificant. As a result, the business is constructing a 7,500-square-foot shipping and receiving building in Commerce Park off Kathleen Avenue in northwest Coeur d’Alene.
Owner Mitchell Wright started the store in its 1890 farmhouse in 1998. Son Brian designed a Web page a couple of years later. The number of customers grew from a few a day to a few hundred a day, and the Web inventory expanded to thousands of items.
“We ran out of space,” Mitchell said. “By 2003 it was two-thirds of our business, and by 2004 it was 90 percent. We didn’t have room to do both, so we closed the walk-in. We’re all shipping; we’re five to six times the sales we were. The Web site gets 15,000 to 20,000 hits a day.”
Once at the new location, probably in May, Country Porch will have an annual warehouse sale. Local online customers will be able to pick up their items at the facility and save the shipping costs. Initially the store will occupy 2,500 square feet in the new building and lease the rest.
The store also has been featured in national country-emphasis magazines and on the Extreme Makeover/Home Edition TV show. The farmhouse will be for sale. Country Porch has seven employees and is open 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Phone 664-5086.
Threads sews up business
Everything from small alterations to wedding ensembles to home decor items can be sewn up at Threads. The seamstress store opened in late summer at 7362 Government Way (across from Dalton Cemetery).
With many years of experience, owners Edie Harbison and Elizabeth Sturman do all types of alterations, tailoring and creations, including window treatments and bedroom ensembles.
Their 1,500-square-foot store has a large fitting area with a three-sided mirror, and the women pride themselves on fast turn-around times, usually about four days.
A front corner of the store has the Gift Box, where Debbie Spencer of Spirit Lake sells hand-crafted items, home decor and holiday candies. Harbison came to Hayden from North Dakota, and Sturman is from Post Falls.
The store is open weekdays at 10 a.m. and Saturday by appointment. Phone 762-9163.