Juice bar opens in Liberty Lake

Amy Redman and her husband, Jordan Redman, have opened the Liberty Lake Juice Co. in 1,300 square feet of space at 1334 N. Liberty Lake Road, in a shopping center anchored by an Albertsons supermarket.

Business has been so strong, says Amy Redman, that the company has had to add staff already, giving the juice company a total of nine employees in its first two weeks. The juice bar has seating for up to 50 people, she says.

“This has been a bit of a blur,” Redman says laughing. “Things are off to a great start.”

The Redmans, who each also operate their own insurance agencies, were vacationing in Hawaii last June when they had the idea to start an organic, fresh-press juice company.

“They were all over the place there,” Redman says of organic juice companies and businesses, adding, “We thought, ‘We’ve got to get one going when we get back home.’’’

“The feedback we’ve received so far has been fantastic. Liberty Lake is a community with health-conscious people. We’d like to open another location similar to this for people looking for healthier alternatives to coffee,” she says.

The juice company’s hours are Monday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.

—Kevin Blocker

Cd’A bicycle store moves to Midtown

Trek Bicycle Store, formerly Bicycle Sales & Service, has moved to Coeur d’Alene’s Midtown neighborhood from smaller quarters nearly a mile north of there.

The new shop, located at 1104 N. Fourth, occupies 3,800 square feet of space—roughly twice the floor space it had occupied at 1901 N. Fourth, says Joe Cromer, the store’s service manager.

Cromer says the Midtown shop also has higher ceilings than the former shop.

“It feels a lot bigger,” he says.

The shop is carrying about the same amount of inventory in the new location, although it’s much less cramped, Cromer asserts.

“The idea is to be more open,” he says. “Now, we have room to walk around and see the bicycles better.”

Trek Bicycle Store has five employees, he says.

The store handles Trek as its main brand and also sells bicycle accessories and apparel.

“We’ve got a good split between people looking for new bicycles, parts, and accessories,” Cromer says.

Trek Bicycle Store also rents, repairs, and services bicycles.

The shop participates in bicycling events, organizes regular mountain bike rides in the summer, and sponsors a five-race series at Farragut State Park in July, Cromer says.

 

—Mike McLean

White Box bakery closes retail store

After 15 years of operation, including about nine years at its general North Side location, White Box Café & Bakery has closed its shop at 1215 N. Ruby. 

The shop’s owners, John and Shirley Glodt, couldn’t be reached for comment. However, they confirmed the closure on the business’s website and Facebook page, indicating they hope to continue fulfilling online orders and participating in farmers’ markets. 

While it was perhaps best known for its fresh, hand-made pies and other bakery items, White Box also offered patrons both breakfast and lunch menus, that included a wide selection of gluten-free items. 

The Glodts founded the business under the name White Box Pies and operated it initially in a 1,200-square-foot retail and production space at 520 S. Pines, producing fresh, handmade, from-scratch pies in 45 flavors, as well as a few other treats such as apple dumplings and brownies. Within two years after its founding, the business was producing 150 to 200 pies a day, and was delivering pies to what Shirley Glodt estimated was up to 45 restaurants weekly in the Spokane-Coeur d’Alene area, though it employed just the owners, a wholesale salesman, and two part-time helpers.

The Glodts moved the business in 2008 to 28 E. Sharp on Spokane’s North Side, near its final location on Ruby. In 2014, it more than doubled its space there, adding more seating and menu items, as well as hiring on additional staff. At that time, the bakery and restaurant occupied 2,700 square feet of floor space and employed a total of 15 people.

—LeAnn Bjerken

Cosmic Cowboy Grill to open in Cd’A

A new restaurant doing business as the Cosmic Cowboy Grill is set to open in Coeur d’Alene this weekend. 

Owner Steve Eller, formerly of Austin, Texas, says the restaurant will offer quality, healthy-eating concepts at a fast-food pace. 

“When I moved to the Coeur d’Alene area, I wanted to figure out some kind of entrepreneurial venture here,” says Eller. “We did some focus-group testing last year and saw that this concept really resonated with local diners.” 

Cosmic Cowboy Grill, which takes its name from a group of rock, country, folk, and blues musicians in the 1970s that referred to themselves as cosmic cowboys, is set to open April 29 at 412 W. Haycraft. The restaurant is expected to have a total of 40 employees. 

Eller is leasing the 4,300-square-foot building that the restaurant will occupy and that formerly housed a furniture store and a wig shop, but was remodeled recently by HDG Architecture, of Spokane. 

The space is large enough to host small- and medium-sized groups, Eller says, with customers ordering at the counter and sitting either inside or on the restaurant’s outdoor patio. 

Eller says Comic Cowboy’s menu will feature salads, soups, sandwiches, and wraps, and will include gluten-free, Paleo, vegetarian, vegan, and low-carb options.

“We’re offering innovative, healthy side dishes and entrees that are really different from anything you’ll find elsewhere,” he asserts. “We’ll also be working with a sports nutritionist to provide nutrient-rich meals for people within Coeur d’Alene’s fitness and racing communities who’re looking to eat healthy prior to their events.” 

—LeAnn Bjerken