Urbanna Spa plans to move next month

 

In need of more space, Urbanna Natural Salon Spa & Wine is moving a block north of its current location at 168 S. Division downtown to 104 S. Division on June 6.

The spa, which opened in October 2009, will move from the historic Pine Creek Dairy Creamery building, where it occupies two floors totaling about 5,500 square feet of space, to the Inland Empire Biscuit Co. Building, where it will occupy 8,900 square feet of newly renovated space, all on the main floor.

Linda Biel, who co-owns the spa with her husband Rick Biel, says the new location will be more accessible for customers who have limited mobility.

Urbanna currently has 40 full- and part-time staff members, including aestheticians, massage therapists, hair stylists, and nail technicians, and expects to hire five more employees after the relocation.

The expansion will enable the salon to add an aesthetics division that will offer consultations and follow-ups from cosmetic surgeon Geoffrey Stiller, and Botox and anti-aging injections from medical aesthetician Sarah Hamilton, Biel says.

Salon hours will remain the same, with the business operating Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The spa will feature larger locker rooms and separate men’s and women’s lounges. Urbanna will add spray tanning to its service lines, and it will increase the number of pedicure and hair stations to accommodate about five additional clients per day for those services, Biel says.

The salon will continue to serve beer and wine, and the new location includes an event room that can hold 20 people and will be available for special occasion rentals such as birthdays and spa parties. Biel says Urbanna is exploring partnerships with neighboring restaurants for catering services.

—Kevin Blocker

 

Couple opens BBQ restaurant in Valley

 

Theresa McCarty and her husband, Tom, have opened a Dickey’s Barbecue Pit franchise restaurant in Spokane Valley. 

Located at 14720 E. Sprague, the restaurant employs about 20 people. 

The couple say they handled most of the remodeling work themselves at the 2,400-square-foot building, which once housed a Wendy’s restaurant. The improvements included interior renovations and updates to the building’s parking lot. 

“We also added a patio out front that has given us an extra 20 feet or so of dining space,” says Theresa McCarty. 

She says she and her husband originally are from the Olympia area, but also spent some time living in Texas, where they were first introduced to the Dickey’s franchise. 

“We both love to cook, and smoke our own meat at home,” says McCarty. “It’s a great franchise, very family orientated, and we decided this was something we wanted to do.” 

Based in Texas, Dickey’s Barbecue Restaurants Inc. touts itself to be one of the largest barbeque restaurant chains in the nation. The restaurant features meats smoked on-site, baked potatoes, and other sides, as well as drinks.

McCarty says that so far, the new restaurant has been quite busy, both with customers at the new location and with its event catering services. 

Spokane’s only other Dickey’s restaurant, located at 12628 N. Division, is owned by Mark Engberson, who is a local franchisee for both Dickey’s Barbecue Pit and Wingstop.

Last September, Engberson told the Journal he intends to open four new restaurants of each brand over the next five years or so, with the help of his business partner, the Palouse Restaurant Group.  

—LeAnn Bjerken

 

Plus-size clothing shop opens in Mall

 

A new chain of plus-size clothing stores, called Lovesick, has opened a shop in the Spokane Valley Mall, its first in Washington state. 

Lovesick is a sister brand created by Torrid LLC, a women’s retail clothing chain formerly owned by Hot Topic. The new chain features women’s clothing for sizes 10 through 26. 

The store, which opened in April, is located on the mall’s first floor in a space formerly occupied by a Gap clothing store, across from Bath & Body Works.

Daryl Rheingans, general manager of the Spokane Valley Mall, says the store is an exciting new addition. 

“We’re excited because this is a new concept featuring trendy clothing and accessories that we feel really fits our market here,” says Rheingans.  

Store manager Janessa Wood says the store, which currently has a staff of 10 employees, has been well received by the community. 

“We’re really the first hip, curvy store here in the mall,” says Wood. “So far, it’s been a lot of fun, and business has been great.” 

She says the Spokane Valley shop was the second Lovesick store to open this year, and a total of 24 new Lovesick shops are scheduled to open in 2016. 

Lovesick’s website lists 13 other stores in the U.S. 

—LeAnn Bjerken

 

Thomas Hammer  to open Valley shop

 

Spokane-based Thomas Hammer Coffee Roasters is preparing to open its 19th store, this one to be located at 6630 E. Sprague in Spokane Valley.

Additionally, Janet Williams, the company’s vice president of retail, says Thomas Hammer could open as many as three additional stores before the end of 2016.

The newest Spokane Valley store, at the southwest corner of the intersection of Sprague Avenue and Thierman Road, is scheduled to open in early June, Williams says.

“We’re busy. That’s really the best way to describe it right now,” she says, declining to specify the expected locations of the three other potential stores.

As for the newest store, Thomas Hammer is moving into 1,800 square feet of leased space that previously was occupied by a Starbucks shop, which closed there last November. The store can seat 30 people and has a patio that can hold another 12, Williams says.

Nine employees will be hired to open the new store, she says. Williams says Thomas Hammer now has 115 employees.

“That location is attractive because it’s a heavily trafficked arterial from the Valley to downtown,” Williams says. 

Seventeen of the 19 Thomas Hammer locations are in the Spokane area. The other two are in Idaho, one in Post Falls and the other in Hayden. Thomas Hammer debuted in December 1993 in the NorthTown Mall.

—Kevin Blocker