Nail salon opens in Liberty Lake

 

Jancan LLC, which does business as Toe Tubs & More, has opened in a 560-square-foot space at 23801 E. Appleway, in Liberty Lake, says owner Janet Claar. 

Toe Tubs & More is a nail salon that offers manicures, pedicures, and natural and organic manicure and pedicure products, says Claar, the business’s sole employee. It also offers popular nail salon brands Opi and CND Shellac that aren’t natural, she says.

Claar says she works with other local sellers in the community and will sell products made in the Spokane area. One such vendor she works with is Malina Yeager of Spokane Valley-based K. Salon Organic Beauty, who makes organic beauty products, she says. 

“It’s important to always bring in other aspects of the community, so it’s a community effort rather than buying products online from Timbuktu,” says Claar.

Toe Tubs & More sells hair products from K Salon and plans on selling other organic and natural products from different local vendors, such as deodorants and lip balms.

She says she chose to open the business after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder in 2012.

“It was important for me to go organic,” she says. She loves getting pedicures, she says, and went to school to learn how to give them, graduating from Spokane-based Total Cosmetology in March.

Toe Tubs & More is open Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Thursday and Friday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., she says.

Vic Overholser, of SDS Realty Inc., and Sharon Reynolds and Doug Byrd, both of Byrd Real Estate Group LLC, handled the lease.

—Samantha Howard

NW Phone Exchange opens second location

 

David Potter, owner of NW Phone Exchange, is opening a second store, this one at 11305 E. Sprague, in Spokane Valley.

Potter started his first store at a kiosk on the lower level of NorthTown Mall in September 2014. The new Valley store will operate out of 1,100 square feet of leased retail space, Potter says.

“We kept getting calls from the Valley and Coeur d’Alene and finally decided it was worth setting up a Valley store,” Potter says. “The goal is to open another store in Coeur d’Alene in September.”

NW Phone Exchange buys, sells, refurbishes, and repairs phones, he says.

“I’ll never make a million dollars, but that wasn’t the point. It was more to help people out and to try and make a living,” Potter says.

He previously was a cellular representative for Car Toys and Cricket Wireless, a subsidiary of AT&T Inc.

“Cellular companies don’t call them two-year contracts anymore, but you’re still paying $25 a month even if that phone stops working,” Potter says.

He says NW Phone Exchange collects the overstock from retail cellular stores and can offer lower retail prices ranging from $400 to $500 for a smartphone, depending on the brand. “You can end up having to pay $750 to $900 to replace that device.”

Potter also recently brought on business partner Scott Ross, previously of Spokane Wireless, as a repair technician. Potter and Ross are NW Phone Exchange’s only employees, but with the new store, Potter says he expects to hire two to three more employees.

—Kevin Blocker

Paint, wine studio prepares to debut 

 

Deborah Jirasek says she hopes to open a Painting with a Twist franchise outlet in 3,200 square feet of space in Spokane Valley by the beginning of next month.

The business will be located at 11703 E. Sprague, in the same retail center as Hu Hot Mongolian Grill, Jirasek says.

The Painting with a Twist franchise network includes nearly 300 outlets in 36 states. Founded by Cathy Deano and Renee Maloney in 2007 under the name Corks N Canvas, the outlets pair instructional art with friends, wine, and a “lively” instructor to produce individual works of art, says the company’s website.

The cost is $35 for a two-hour session and $45 for three hours. Discounts are offered to seniors and military personnel.

Jirasek and her family moved to the Inland Northwest from Waco, Texas, to open the store. The studio expects to receive its liquor license from Washington state’s Liquor and Cannabis Board this month, she says.

“They’ve become very popular in Texas and the market seemed a little saturated to try and start one there,” Jirasek says. She says her son-in-law is from the Spokane area, so she and other family members decided to move here.

The main studio at the Valley location will be able to hold up to 48 patrons, and a separate private party room can hold 36, Jirasek says.

Office hours will be Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Studio times will be available based on need and will only be closed on Monday.

“After a year-and-a-half we’re almost there,” Jirasek says. “It’s just taken us that long to find a good location.”

—Kevin Blocker

IT company takes space downtown 

 

A group of Spokane entrepreneurs who founded Launched I.T. LLC in December has established the headquarters for the tech startup in the recently purchased 1889 Building, at 120 N. Stevens, downtown. 

The company, operating as LaunchedIT, specializes in accelerating client businesses through Web development and design, mobile applications, software development, search-engine optimization, social media management, and marketing, says CEO Aaron Cunningham, a principal in the company.

Other principals include Chief Technical Officer/Chief Operating Officer Victor Orellana and Chief Financial Officer Nick Barnes.

Cunningham and Barnes also are principals at commercial real estate brokerage Citibrokers LLC and are part of the group that now owns the historic 1889 Building, at the southeast corner of Main Avenue and Stevens Street.

LaunchedIT occupies 700 square feet of space on the 3,000-square-foot third floor, which it shares with Citibrokers and private money lender Inland Capital LLC, another venture in which Cunningham is part owner.

LaunchedIT has two full-time and four part-time employees.

The company has more than 20 clients and works with multiple local subcontractors, Cunningham says.

“Our workload has been pretty heavy,” he says.

Cunningham says Orellana is recruiting some fairly large potential clients and is also is courting some public agencies.

—Mike McLean

Counseling service starts downtown

 

Executive Counseling Services, a new mental-health therapy practice, has opened in the U.S. Bank Building, at 422 W. Riverside downtown.

Owner Roger Yoder says his practice is an affiliate of Greenleaf Psychology & Counseling, at the northwest corner of Ray Street and 17th Avenue on the South Hill.  

“My office is kind of an expansion of Greenleaf. I gained some of my assessment and training through them, and we still share in some patient services,” he says. 

Yoder’s practice is in a 600–square-foot space that includes two offices and a waiting room area. He says he hopes it will fill a need for such services in the city’s core. 

“I haven’t noticed anything quite like this downtown, so I am hoping it can be a convenient walk for those people who work down here to benefit from my services,” he says. “It’s actually just a short walk from the skywalk.” 

Yoder says he specializes primarily in conflicts at home and work. He also is licensed to treat individuals with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, and various other mental health challenges. 

A retired Air Force police and antiterrorism officer, Yoder says he used his military benefits to earn a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling from Walden University, in Minneapolis. Now a licensed mental health counselor in Washington state, he is studying to obtain his doctorate in clinical psychology, also through Walden University.

—LeAnn Bjerken