Paw Print Genetics publishes breed study

Spokane-based Paw Print Genetics says it has collaborated with the Drentsche Patrijshond Club of North America, whose president lives here, to publish a study in the a recent issue of Veterinary Record Case Reports highlighting the need to identify genetic risk reports for rare breeds.

Drentsche Patrijshond dogs, also known as Drents and Dutch partridge dogs, are a rare breed that’s popular among pet owners across the Pacific Northwest, says Lisa Shaffer, founder and CEO of Paw Print Genetics and lead scientist on the study.

“Because all breeds are susceptible to genetic disease, rare breeds, such as the Drents, have fewer numbers of available breeding dogs and are therefore more susceptible to inherited conditions simply because of population constraints,” Shaffer says in a press release describing the published report.

Paw Print Genetics provides genetic testing services for inherited diseases in dogs. Established in 2012, it provides services worldwide for breeders, dog owners, and veterinarians.

For this report, it says it studied 13 Drents for 142 different mutations known to occur in domestic dogs. Three dogs were carriers of hyperuricosuria, a condition that can cause bladder stone formation, and four dogs were carriers for von Willebrand disease, type 1. Signs of von Willebrand disease include easy bruising, nose bleeds, bleeding after losing their juvenile teeth, and prolonged bleeding after surgery or trauma, the report says.

“Identifying breed-specific genetic risks is crucial for avoiding these conditions in future generations of our breed,” Drentsche Patrijshond club President Brian O’Connor says of the report in a statement in the press release. “We can now use this information in our breeding practices to produce healthier dogs in the future.”

—Kevin Blocker

Art site Flootie.com now accepts Bitcoin

Flootie.com, a Spokane-based referral service designed to match artists with buyers and galleries, says it has begun to accept Bitcoin for subscriber registration fees. 

The site’s owner and founder, Dean Cameron, announced the new payment option in a recent press release, saying, “Our goal is to create as many options and tools available to artists and art galleries to successfully market their artwork as we can. Bitcoin is yet another tool in that toolbox.” 

Bitcoin is a consensus network that enables a new payment system and a completely digital money, says bitcoin.com. Its backers claim it’s the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen.

Cameron, also owner of the Spokane-based American Fine Art Co., launched flootie.com in October of 2012. He describes the site as a subscription-based service enabling users, artists, and galleries to upload art pieces for sale, follow artists, and receive notification when favorite artists are selling pieces. 

Regular subscription prices range from $5.95 a month to $24.95 a month, depending on the number of art pieces uploaded and the amount of bandwidth used. Users who don’t upload art for sale, including art buyers, don’t have to pay for the service.

Flootie.com has set up a separate registration page for Bitcoin users that allows for annual membership to be purchased in one of three levels. Bitcoin subscription prices range from $60 a year to $250 a year. 

Cameron says these prices offer a discount from the standard credit card monthly option due to the annual nature of a Bitcoin subscription. 

“The value of Bitcoin fluctuates frequently, so this gives our users an opportunity to save a little by going with a yearly subscription,” says Cameron.

Cameron says the site has been doing well, with a good amount of web traffic. 

“In this last quarter we had approximately 10,000 visitors to the site and 35,000 page views.” 

Cameron says that as of Aug. 28, the site had 495 registered users and 1,600 pieces of art uploaded.

 

—LeAnn Bjerken

Mimi’s Nail Salon opens on North Side 

Mimi’s Nail Salon has opened at 4516 N. Nevada on Spokane’s North Side.  

The salon’s owner, Nam Nguyen, says he bought the 1,500-square-foot building in which the salon is located for about $110,000. A pet grooming service previously occupied the building.

Nguyen says he has made some minor improvements to the building, both to its interior and exterior, costing approximately $2,500. 

The salon offers nail services for hands and feet, as well as various waxing services.

Nguyen’s wife, Mimi Bui, manages the salon and currently is its sole employee. The salon is the couple’s first in the Spokane area. 

Nguyen says the business is doing well. 

“Mimi had some regular clients already and business is slowly building. As of now, we’ve only been open a month. We expect things to pick up as the year goes on,” he says.

 

—LeAnn Bjerken

Cd’A Brazilian BBQ moving to Riverstone

Grille from Ipanema, a Brazilian barbecue-style restaurant, has leased 6,100 square feet of space at 2416 N. Old Mill Loop, in the Village at Riverstone, in Coeur d’Alene.

The restaurant plans to move there next spring from smaller quarters in the Parkside building, at 601 Front, also in Coeur d’Alene, says Bob Spooner, a real estate broker who negotiated the lease.

The restaurant will be the first tenant in vacant space south of the Regal Riverstone Stadium 14 cinemas, Spooner says. Other tenants in that portion of the Village include a Starbucks coffee shop, a Physzique fitness club, and a Cold Stone Creamery restaurant.

Grille from Ipanema also will have more than 400 square feet of outdoor seating area, he says.

The restaurant focuses on the southern Brazil cowboy tradition, churrasco, in which food servers roam from table to table with skewers of beef, pork, and chicken, from which they slice meat onto diners’ plates.

Owner Adriano de Sousa opened the restaurant in its original location in the plaza level of the Parkside tower in 2010.

The restaurant’s name is inspired by the 1960s bossa nova song, “The Girl from Ipanema,” and Ipanema is a neighborhood in the southern section of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

 

—Mike McLean

Mountain Goat plans to close shop

Mountain Goat Outfitters, an outdoor and recreational sports gear shop at 12 W. Sprague, is closing after 15 years in business, says co-owner Lon McRay. 

The shop opened in September 2000 and moved to its current, 7,000-square-foot location in 2003, McRay says. 

He says he and his business partner, who he declined to identify, are retiring. Because they are in the process of liquidating, the two are the only employees. Both have been working full time, McRay says. 

The last day Mountain Goat will be open to the public will be Sept. 20, he says. In addition to closing the store  the owners also will shut down its website, at acmeclimbing.com, he says.

Mountain Goat Outfitters sells outdoor sporting gear for activities such as hiking and kayaking, and also has offered some rentals. 

McRay says the shop came into being when he decided to move here to be closer to his children.

Mountain Goat Outfitter’s hours of operation are Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., he says. 

 

—Samantha Howard

Dog grooming salon opens along Trent

Doglux Grooming Salon, a new boutique pet salon, has opened in Spokane Valley. 

Located in the Trent & Argonne Plaza, at 8901 E. Trent, the dog grooming company says it has renovated its 1,300-square-foot space to create a spa-like environment, including a bathing room, grooming area, and lobby. 

The salon began leasing the space from Vandervert Developments LLC in June, holding a soft opening in July. Owner Kari Stafford manages the salon along with co-owner and groomer Andrea Swaider. Doglux also has two other employees.  

Stafford says the salon’s goal is creating the right environment for both pets and owners. 

“Many people consider their pet to be their most precious family member, and we want to be able to give them a beautiful grooming in a state of the art facility,” she says. 

Doglux offers a variety of services for both dogs and cats, including baths, brushing, specialty haircuts, and nail trimming. Stafford says. Doglux, unlike some larger groomers, doesn’t kennel dry pets after a bath. 

“In this industry, larger groomers will try to save time, placing a pet in the kennel with a dryer running which sometimes results in injury or even the death of pets. We don’t use kennel dryers,” says Stafford. “All of our pets are hand dried with a high-velocity dryer.”

The salon currently is open Tuesday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.

 

—LeAnn Bjerken

Blaze Pizza to open here later this month

Los Angeles-based Blaze Fast-Fire’d Pizza is scheduled to open its first restaurant in Spokane later this month. 

An exact date has yet to be determined, says Martina Schmidt, an account manager at Stuart Advertising in Spokane. Blaze hired Stuart Advertising to promote the company’s Spokane opening.

The 2,600-square-foot restaurant will be located at 926 N. Division and will include seating for 50 inside the restaurant.

Also, an outdoor patio can accommodate another 10 to 15 customers.

 “The premise isn’t fast food but fast casual,” Schmidt says. 

Blaze boasts high quality and healthy ingredients at affordable pricing, she says.

Blaze’s 11-inch thin crust pizzas range in price from $5 to $7.45 and are cooked for three minutes in a wood-fired oven, Schmidt says. 

Blaze offers pizza made with gluten-free dough and vegan cheese for customers with special dietary needs, she says.

The first Blaze restaurant opened three years ago in Irvine, Calif. The company currently operates 75 restaurants in 20 states and Washington, D.C. 

The Spokane restaurant will be Blaze’s first location in Washington state.

Founded by Elise and Rick Wetzel, co-founders of the Wetzel’s Pretzels chain, Blaze has financial backing from such high profile names as pro basketball star LeBron James, Maria Shriver, Boston Red Sox co-owner Tom Warner, and movie producer John Davis.

 

—Kevin Blocker

GNC store to open in the Five Mile area 

Spokane couple Ivan and Erin Ribic plan to open a GNC Live Well health and wellness products store in northwest Spokane this month. The new outlet will occupy a 1,200-square-foot space in the Five Mile Plaza shopping center, at 1802 W. Francis, and will be their fourth store in the area. 

The Ribics opened their first GNC outlet in 2011 in Airway Heights, says a recent corporate news release. Ivan Ribic previously had managed several local GNC stores, having worked with the company since 1998, the release says 

The couple opened stores in downtown Spokane and along Sullivan Road in Spokane Valley in the summer of 2014. 

Lifelong fans of fitness and strength sports, the couple also compete in and promote local fitness events. 

Of their latest store in the Five Mile neighborhood, Ivan Ribic says, “We’re excited to be in this new location, it’s something we’ve been working on for a while. We have a lot of customers in the area and we’re glad to be able to offer a location that’s close to them.”

Based in Pittsburgh, GNC Holdings Inc. is a specialty retailer of health and wellness products, including vitamins, minerals, and herbal supplement products, sports nutrition products, and diet products. 

According to its website, GNC has more than 8,800 locations spanning more than 50 countries. 

—LeAnn Bjerken

Fitness studio slated to open on South Hill

MissFit Ventures South LLC, owned by Richard and Melissa Cote, plans to open a fitness studio named Orangetheory Fitness on Spokane’s South Hill in November.

The studio will occupy a 3,400-square-foot space at 2620 E. 29th and will offer an hour-long workout that focuses on getting members’ heart rate elevated for 12 to 20 minutes into what Richard Cote calls the “orange zone.” 

“That’s when it’s beating at 84 percent or higher of what’s considered to be that person’s maximum heart rate,” he says. 

Exercise equipment will include treadmills, bikes, striders, dumbbells, and water rowers, says Cote. 

Because the orange zone is different for each person, people at any level of physical fitness can join, he says.

Members can pay on a month-to-month basis, rather than through a long contract, he says. Pricing varies depending on a number of factors, he says. Orangetheory is open for membership at a discounted rate until the night before its grand opening, he says.

Including his wife, Melissa, the company has five full-time employees, and certified trainers are being added as well, says Cote. 

In addition to the South Hill location, the company also plans to open an Orangetheory Fitness studio on the North Side, Cote says, and likely will look to open another fitness studio somewhere between downtown Spokane and Coeur d’Alene. It hasn’t signed a lease for any additional locations yet, though. 

At the initial location on the South Hill, Orangetheory Fitness hasn’t set a schedule yet, but classes will be offered seven days a week, Cote says. 

 

—Samantha Howard