A number of businesses are moving to or are launching ventures in a part of downtown Spokane that they have collectively dubbed SoDo, a moniker that means south of downtown and echoes the name of a funky shopping district in Seattle. They say the label seems to be sticking.


Buoyed by foot traffic from the Spokane Farmers Market on Second Avenue just west of Division Street and by a spate of businesses that attract passersby, stores moving into retail spaces in the SoDobounded generally by First and Third avenues and Division and Stevens streetsseem to be gaining a foothold and defining an eclectic district.


We identify ourselves as a SoDo district, says Kim Morin, owner of Saunders Cheese Market on Washington Street, speaking of a group of operations that has launched coordinated advertising campaigns using the label.


A custom shoe store called Uptown 410, A Town & Country Floral shop, and a shop called Antwiqued that custom finishes used furniture all are recent additions to a strip of storefronts on Second Avenue just east of Washington. Other retailers are occupying storefronts on neighboring streets, too, including Neat Old Stuff on Bernard Street and 1900 Furnishings & Dcor on Pacific Avenue.


Lolo Boutique, which sells trendy clothing and home and garden items, was one of the early retail pioneers in the SoDo, opening two years ago in part of a building that formerly housed Fresh Food Corp.s Cyrus OLearys pie-production plant. Neighboring businesses say Lolo is the source of a lot of their traffic, and that the twice-weekly Farmers Market also drives some foot traffic. Vintage Hill Wine Cellars, which opened last May, occupies a space in the same building as Lolo, and says it had more than 2,000 visitors in its first month alone last year.


The stores seem to be creating complementary mixes that feed upon one another. For example, on Washington Street, between Second and Third avenues, a trio of tasty shopsVino! A Wine Shop, the OMO chocolate store , and Saunders Cheese Marketoffers three vital food groups.


Morin says that between a quarter and a third of her business comes from Vino! customers, who can bring a bottle of wine theyve just bought to Saunders, order a cheese plate to pair with the wine, and eat and drink their purchases at the store. The service is so popular, Morin says, that customers must have reservations for Friday evenings.


Similarly, brides-to-be easily can take note of A Town & Country Floral across Second while theyre shopping at Marcellas Bridal Inc.


A Town & Country Floral, which formerly was located on Spokanes North Side, says it has tripled its wedding business since moving to its new location across the street from Marcellas. So far this year, it has received floral orders for 35 weddings, says store assistant Deanna Bunch. Last year, she says, the store had 12 wedding orders all year.


Morin says foot traffic at Saunders Cheese Market has increased steadily since the shop opened two years ago in a building that her husband partly owns.


She says the number of retail stores in the neighborhood has increased dramatically since they opened Saunders in a space that previously had been vacant for six years.


Just on the other side of the BNSF Railway Co. viaduct, on the north side of SoDo, Barb Rathburn, owner of Namaska, a tea and gift shop on First Avenue near Washington, says she hopes for a similar uptick in business with the opening of a nearby furniture store called Concept Home at the corner of First and Washington.


Rathburn says she hopes the addition of more retail stores will boost foot traffic for the tea shop, which she says has struggled.


Edge of SoDo store owners Rathburn and Heather Hanley, owner of Concept Home, say they identify with the district, and notice that at least some of their foot traffic filters down the two long blocks that separate them from the Second and Washington retailers. Still, they hope that redevelopment in the nearby Ridpath Hotel buildings will spur even more traffic, Hanley says.


As development continues in the city core, demand for retail space on the fringes of downtown likely will continue to grow, says Spokane developer Ron Wells.


The reality is that as downtown has become more occupied there are fewer and fewer vacant buildings, Wells says.


The natural development of downtown is that the secondary spaces to the central core attract businesses that want more space for less rent, and where people will still like the ambience of downtown, he says.


Wells says the interesting and historic character of the older brick buildings lends itself to developments that include main-level retail and housing on the upper floors, and that in the future he would expect to see additional buildings built on street level parking lots.


Hanley says creative developers like Spokane businessman Dan Spalding can take credit for beginning the surge of retail in the small SoDo sector.


Hes an artist, Hanley says. He finds old buildings and does cool projects, and that attracts cool businesses.Unofficial business district


Eventually, the businesses likely will need to create a business district or join up with the downtown Business Improvement District, Wells says. He says services that go along with that will help cement the perception of the area as walkable.


He adds that though the area might struggle with an impression that it lacks safety, simply having more businesses there will take care of that perception.


The Downtown Spokane Partnership has surveyed the businesses in the SoDo area, but hasnt seen quite enough business demand yet to create an official district there, says Marla Oleniacz, DSPs vice president of marketing and public relations.


The Business Improvement District, which the DSP manages for the city, collects funds from businesses in various districts and uses those funds for marketing and to provide services such as graffiti removal and security ambassador patrols during regular business hours.


The so-called SoDo area is outside the downtown Business Improvement District, and hasnt as yet formed an official business improvement district itself.


Oleniacz says some of the business owners in that area have expressed interest in forming a more formal BID, but there has to be a majority of businesses participating to make it official.


We cant just remove graffiti in front of one building and leave it on the one next door, Oleniacz says.


In the meantime, business owners in the area are creating their own self-identification through continued group advertising in local media, and have talked about coordinating for a sidewalk sale at some point, says Antwiqueds owner, Alisha Nisbet.


My vision is to advertise together, and with condos going in downtown, we have everything for that kind of condo lifestyle, she says. Unofficially were trying to do it and grow into that.


Though the downtown Spokane plan task force has included the southern portion of downtown in its planning effort, it defines the area a bit differently, with broader goals for the whole area south of the railroad viaduct, says Steve Trabun, a regional business manager for Avista Utilities who serves on the task force.


Strategies that are being considered within the downtown Spokane plan as part of improving shopability for south downtown in general include encouraging mixed-used office and residential development and live-work and light industrial uses in older buildings; retaining warehouse and light industrial use and if the opportunity arises, reusing those spaces for residential and ground-floor retail.


The draft plan also encourages the continuation of auto-oriented services on Third Avenue, Trabun says.


I think youll see more and more improvements in the SoDo area, Wells says. Its very walkable in that neighborhood.


Oleniacz says continued growth in the SoDo could lead to the emergence of a formal district.


If SoDo keeps taking off, its a possibility, she says.


Contact Jeanne Gustafson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at jeanneg@spokanejournal.com.