New shop downtown lives up to its name
This shop definitely has Texture, which is handy because it’s also the business’s name. The store at 107 Second St. in downtown Coeur d’Alene offers a variety of artful items that give it a texture, a depth, despite its small size.
Owner Shannon Erwin sells her hand-decorated glassware, portraits and abstract paintings and custom clothing as well as hand-sculpted silver charms made by Rachel Riggs, her mother. (See another connection later in this column.) Erwin fashions the artwork in colorful acrylics, and the clothing ranges from men’s ties and children’s shirts to women’s wear.
Among the first graduates of Lake City High School, Erwin earned a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from the University of Idaho, designed costumes for Lake City Playhouse and had a short Hollywood career before returning to North Idaho to raise her children.
Off-season store hours are noon to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday. Phone: 651-2390.
Japanese Cafe on Fourth
Modern Japanese cuisine with a Northwest flair will dominate the menu of Syringa Japanese Cafe & Sushi Bar when it opens about April 1 at 1401 N. Fourth St., Coeur d’Alene.
Located in the former Tartan Cafe building, Syringa’s Viljo Basso describes the food as “Japanese-inspired” from his experience as a chef at Takara in Coeur d’Alene and with the culinary arts school in Portland. He came from Kalama, Wash., and his co-owner wife, Autumn, is a Coeur d’Alene native.
The restaurant will have eight employees, 35 seats and a six-stool sushi bar. It will have eat-in, take-out and catering. Hours will be noon to 9 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 10 p.m. Fridays and 4 to 10 p.m. Saturdays. Phone: 664-2718.
New yarn shop
Anything related to yarn is related to the inventory and activities at Boucle’s … Yarn store at 116 N. Fourth St. Pronounced boo-clay, the shop should open April 6 in the space occupied by the Army recruiter office before it moved to Prairie Shopping Center.
Owner Ricky Ryan will offer yarn (including American and European exotic fibers and blends), accessories, spinning wheels, patterns and classes on knitting, crocheting and home-spun fibers and wool products. A “Knotty Girls’ Night Out” session with treats and special activities will be 5 to 7 p.m. Thursdays.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., and raised in California, Ryan came to North Idaho from McCall in 2002. She has been an interior designer and raised angora goats and llamas. Store hours will be 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. weekdays and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays. Phone: 664-9100.
Site renovated
A place that has housed cafes since its construction in the 1960s, the 2,500-square-foot building at 410 E. Harrison Ave., Coeur d’Alene, is being completely renovated to become a retail store or office.
Most recently the facility, just east of Fourth Street and across from the Goodwill store, has been Diane’s Pantry Restaurant and before that Connie’s. This winter Paul and Robbi Bielec bought it and are having it renovated by Innovative Construction. For occupancy information, call 665-5285.
Tidbits
•Watch your driving at Kathleen Avenue and Atlas Road. The intersection is now a four-way stop and will have a traffic light this summer.
•Someone needs to bring “real” coffee to New Jersey and New York besides the Starbucks options. No drive-through stands exist in the Big Apple or its suburbs, and the cafe and deli coffee stinks. Being a visitor there from the Northwest is tough in the mornings.
•With its headquarters above the former Penny Candy Store in downtown Coeur d’Alene, the Pita Pit company now has a 35-foot, colorful Pitabago that searches the country for potential franchisees. The company’s president and vice president are Jack Riggs and his son Peter (related to the ladies in Item 1 above). The company now has 119 locations and 42 applications. Phone: 765-3326. Or go to www.pitapitusa.com.