Bruttles Candies opens Cd'A outlet
Bruttles Candies LLC, a Spokane Valley-based confectionary that specializes in soft peanut brittle, has opened a shop in a 1,200-square-foot space in the Coeur d'Alene Shopping Plaza, on the corner of Third Street and Sherman Avenue, bringing its total number of stores to three, says owner Carol Measel.

The Coeur d'Alene store, which is operating under the name Bruttles by the Lake, sells candies, such as soft and hard brittles, caramels, fudge, and toffees, as well as ice cream. Measel says the store features 16 flavors of ice cream made by Spokane-based Brain Freeze Creamery, four of which are blended with chunks of Bruttles candy.

She says she currently employs 12 people and plans to hire an additional five employees to work at the Coeur d'Alene store.

Measel began operating Bruttles here in 1988, and sold the company a few years later, only to see it eventually go out of business. She resurrected the candy company in 2002 and opened a small store inside the Davenport Hotel, at 10 S. Post. Last September she moved Bruttles's candy factory from a home in the Spokane Valley into a larger space here, at 101 N. University, also opening a store there.

North Idaho salon enlarges its space
Bling, a salon located in a 2,500-square-foot space at 277 W. Prairie Shopping Center, in Hayden, Idaho, is nearing completion of an expansion into an adjacent 1,750-square-foot space, says Tammy Morris, who owns the salon with Donna Brand.

The salon opened in June 2008 and has been "bursting at the seams" ever since, says Morris. She says the salon will use the new space to add five tanning beds, a spray-on tanning machine, and room for additional hairdressers and nail technicians.

Renovation work included tearing down walls and installing new floors, says Morris, who declines to disclose remodeling costs. A&P Construction, of Hayden, was the contractor for the work.

Bling, which currently employs about 17 people, offers hair and nail services, massage therapy, and permanent cosmetic tattoos. Morris says the shop plans to hire more employees once the expansion is completed.

Destiny Bar & Grill to open this month
A new restaurant and bar, Destiny Bar & Grill, is expected to open by the end of the March in a 3,000-square-foot space at 18219 E. Appleway in Greenacres.

Owner Brandon West says Destiny will serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and will feature submarine sandwiches and pizza as its specialties. West says the pizza will be different from the standard fare, and will be made on crust that is rolled out long in the shape of a rectangle rather than the traditional circle. Food delivery service also will be available for customers located within a five-mile radius, he says.

The bar, which will serve more than 40 different kinds of martinis, will feature karaoke and live music in the evenings, and will have pool tables and large-screen televisions, says West.

Renovation of the space included installing a fire-suppression system and some electrical rewiring.

West says the establishment probably will employ around 14 people.

Nonprofit event venue opening caf at YMCA
The Service Station, a Spokane nonprofit events venue and caf, plans to open a second location, in the nearly completed YMCA/YWCA central facility on Monroe Street, which is expected to open at the beginning of May.

The YMCA/YWCA facility is a $25 million, 80,000-square-foot building under construction at 930 N. Monroe.

The Service Station will open its caf near a covered atrium at the building's entrance says Scot Robinson, its CEO. It will have seating for about 60 people in the caf, atrium, and an outdoor patio area, and might contract with the facility to cater events there, he says.

The caf will employ seven or eight people at first and will serve Panini sandwiches, salads, breakfast items, and espresso coffee drinks, Robinson says.

The Service Station currently operates an 18,000-square-foot caf and events center at 9315 N. Nevada. It employs 18 people at that location, Robinson says. It raises money for Crosswalk and other community organizations.

New consignment store to focus on outdoors
Jeff and LaRaine Wright, of Spokane Valley, plan to open a franchise store called The Bargain Hunter that will specialize in new and used outdoor sporting goods.

The outlet, which is scheduled to open March 14, will occupy 9,000 square feet of leased space in a portion of the former Kmart building at 15303 E. Sprague.

The Bargain Hunter will feature equipment, clothing, and accessories for hunting, fishing, camping, water sports, and winter sports, says Jeff Wright. The store also will sell lodge-type furniture, he says.

The store will carry some items on consignment and will obtain some of its inventory through its franchisor's contacts with liquidators, Wright says. Also, he expects to be set up to sell hunting and fishing licenses this spring.

Wright, who for 24 years was an operations manager with a medical supply firm, says this is his first endeavor in a retail franchise. The store will employ four people, including himself, he says.

The Bargain Hunter franchise company isbased in Warsaw, Ind.

Difficult winter, poor economy close Brooklyn's
Brooklyn's Woodfire Grill and Sports Bar, which had been operating at 9602 N. Division since January 2007, closed late last month after a difficult winter of slow sales, one of the former owners says.

Sales at the steak and seafood restaurant were down 50 percent in December compared with the year-earlier month, says David Appelmann, who owned the restaurant with his mother, Janet Appelmann. That month "kind of knocked the wind out of us," he says.

The restaurant had more than 50 employees when the Appelmanns opened, but closed on Feb. 26 with 21 employees.

Appelmann says the business had leased the space in the building from Vandervert Developments Inc., of Spokane. He says he and his mother named the restaurant Brooklyn's Woodfire Grill in honor of his late father, George Appelmann, who immigrated to Brooklyn, N.Y., from Offenback, Germany, in about 1953.