A new tenant soon will occupy the prominent River Park Square commercial space between Nordstrom and Williams Sonoma, along west Main Avenue downtown.

Gene Juarez Salons & Spas, a trade name for Highlights Salons LLC, is planning to open a salon and skin care location in a space previously occupied by Cosmic Cowboy Grill.

“It’s a store that we’ve been after since inception of River Park Square, because typically, they would co-locate with Nordstrom,” says Bryn West, vice president of leasing and operations for Cowles Real Estate, which owns the downtown mall. “This has been a long time coming.”

Founded in 1971 in downtown Seattle, Gene Juarez Salons & Spas has over a dozen locations, all on Washington’s West Side.

The salon is expected to open in early fall following a remodel of the 4,600-square-foot former restaurant space, West says.

“It’s a massive remodel,” she says. “They’re going to gut the space and basically start over.”

A permit application on file with the city of Spokane shows a proposed project cost of $150,000.

Initial site plans call for 16 salon chairs and two skin care rooms. The space has two entrances—one inside of River Park Square and the other along the sidewalk on Main Avenue.

Seattle-based Smith Co. is listed on the application as the project architect.

West contends that the new tenant will help fill a void at the downtown shopping center.

“It’s been about eight to 10 years since we’ve had a women’s option for hair and skin treatments,” she says. “It’s a need that was missing at River Park Square.”

Cosmic Cowboy Grill closed about 18 months ago, and the space has been vacant since then.

“They opened right as COVID hit and had to shut down,” West says. “It was just a big stumble from the beginning, unfortunately.”