A resurgence of restaurant activity in downtown Spokane in recent years and greater demand now for used restaurant equipment amid the slower economy have helped Spokane Restaurant Equipment Inc. continue to grow, says owner Mike Schneider.

Although sales are down 25 percent so far this year, Schneider says that's not bad considering the business had record sales in 2007 and 2008.

"I'm very optimistic for the end of this year," he says.

One reason for that optimism is growth in sales of used restaurant equipment, Schneider says. Selling used equipment is what the longtime Spokane company does well and is what it first started doing more than 30 years ago, he says. Then, Schneider's father, John Schneider, bought some used restaurant equipment on a whim from a now-defunct local hamburger chain, stuffed it in a garage, and told Schneider the two were "in business," Schneider recalls.

"So now we're going to focus a lot on doing what we do best," he says.

He says that as restaurants cope with the slower economy, they look to save money on large purchases for their operations, specifically purchases of restaurant equipment.

"People who bought new equipment in better times are now turning to used equipment," Schneider says.

Spokane Restaurant Equipment sells both new and rebuilt restaurant, bakery, and institutional-kitchen food-handling equipment, ranging from larger equipment like a Middleby Marshall conveyor pizza oven, a Carts of Colorado hot dog cart, or a Hobart 80-quart mixer, to smaller items like cookware, plates, and utensils. It also provides consulting, training, and layout and design services, as well as installation and repair of equipment.

In addition to restaurants, the company serves casinos, retirement communities, schools, and others.

The family-owned company employs 34 people, about twice as many as it did 10 years ago, and it did about $10 million in sales last year.

The company is located in a 30,000-square-foot building at 1750 E. Trent. Schneider owns that building, as well as two warehouses the company uses a few blocks away, one with 8,000 square feet of floor space and the other with 36,000 square feet of space, he says.

Spokane Restaurant Equipment buys used restaurant equipment from all over the country, hauls it to Spokane, repairs it for resale, and sells it mostly to customers in the Northwest, Schneider says.

"We're the green people of the restaurant industry here," he says, referring to its repair and resale of used equipment.

The company also helps customers get rebates for any Energy Star appliances they buy. Such rebates, available through Avista Corp., can amount to $100 to $500, for high-efficiency refrigerators and freezers, and upwards of $1,000 for high-temperature dishwashers, he says.

"We hand-hold them through that process," Schneider says.

Spokane Restaurant Equipment's main competition for used equipment has been vendors who do business via the Internet, and it's working now on developing a new Web site, which should go live by the end of this month, he says.

One of the challenges of serving Internet customers, is keeping a good inventory of used equipment, something he plans to emphasize in the future, Schneider says. Shoppers online generally want the merchandise quickly, so having the merchandise in stock helps his business get the sale, he says.

"If we've got it in stock, we'll get the order over the Internet," he says.

In addition to the sale of used equipment, another business segment that has been on the upswing in recent years for the company has been serving what Schneider calls "bistro" or "boutique-type" restaurants, he says.

"We have seen a resurgence of boutique-type restaurants," Schneider says. Among them have been Scratch Restaurant & Lounge, at 1007 W. First, and Taste Cafe & Gourmet To Go, at 180 S. Howard, for which Spokane Restaurant Equipment provided both equipment and services.

"That's been one really good segment of our business," he says.

Spokane Restaurant Equipment also has been involved in some larger projects, including for the Timber Creek Grill Buffet, which opened last year at 9211 E. Montgomery, in Spokane Valley. That was a $1 million project for Spokane Restaurant Equipment, he says.

Within the last eight months, however, some other large restaurant openings have been put on hold, he says. That might continue, he says, until it's clear the economy is going to improve, and until credit begins flowing again.