Party Palace adds more retail space

Party Palace, a 25-year mainstay of Spokane’s retail party supply scene, is adding retail space at the store located at 2607 N. Division, to make room for new merchandise and expanded lines of party décor, says co-owner Dan Duncan. 

Duncan says about 800 square feet of the store’s warehouse section of the 4,000-square-foot store has been remodeled to add retail space. The space will make room for more home décor party items and enable the store to keep costumes on the floor year-round.

New merchandise for the store includes additional home décor-related party items such as bird cages, candle holders, glass stemware, pillows and blow-up party decorations. Duncan says one of benefits of the new space will be the ability to keep costumes on display all year long. The store also has added a makeup line called Ben Nye Makeup that’s used by theater professionals. 

The store originally was located at 402 N. Division and moved to the current location in 1998. Duncan says it employs about seven people part time and adds a floater when needed. “Our daughter works there for us and we have other family and friends who work or have worked for us,” Duncan says.

—Judith Spitzer

Specialty food shop opens on North Side

A new gluten-free food store, called Cole’s Fine Foods LLC, has opened at 521 E. Holland, on Spokane’s North Side, says owner Jeanine Smith. 

Cole’s is located in 1,500 square feet of leased space in the Holland Retail Center, says Smith. 

The store offers homemade specialty food items, such as baked goods, cake mixes, truffles and toffees, crackers and cheese, and some pasta dishes, she says. 

All the food at Cole’s, which currently has five employees, is gluten-free, Smith says. Most of the employees are family members of Smith’s, she says. 

“What really made me decide to do this is there’s a need for really good gluten-free food,” she says. “There are just not a lot of options in Spokane for gluten-free, so I thought it would kind of fill a niche market.” 

Prior to opening Cole’s, Smith worked in health care administration for about 25 years, she says. 

Smith says she hopes to be able to offer to-go dinners in the near future. 

“We want to offer that, so people who are celiac or gluten intolerant can just pick up their dinner on their way home,” she says. 

Smith also says that in the near future, some of Cole’s flour blends, pastries, cheese, and crackers will be available at Huckleberry’s Natural Market on the South Hill.

 

—Katie Ross

Studio K bar plans move, name change 

The Studio K Bar & Grill on the South Hill will be closing its doors in mid-October, but owner Susan Vandergaag says she plans to open a new bar just over a mile away.

Vandergaag says she’s in the process of leasing a 2,000-square-foot space in the Southgate Shopping Center at 4508 S. Regal. The new bar will be called Studio K Bar on Regal, and Vandergaag says it will be a lot like the original Studio K, at 2810 E. 29th.

“It’s the same layout,” Vandergaag says. “It’s almost exactly the same size as Studio K without the kitchen.”

While the official name of the business, Studio K Bar on Regal LLC, will be different, little else will change, says Vandergaag. Six employees from the former location will work at the new bar, down from a total of eleven due to the closing of the kitchen. The drink menu will remain the same, and the bar will still have karaoke five nights a week. Instead of a kitchen, however, food will be brought in from the Round Table Pizza restaurant next door.

The space, which formerly housed a print shop, will require extensive renovation once the lease is signed.

“We have to put in the whole bar, everything,” Vandergaag says.

The original bar is due to close Oct. 15, and Vandergaag says she hopes to open the new bar within five days of that. 

 

—Virginia Thomas

Hair care veteran opens new salon

Annie Grieve, formerly of Green Salon & Day Spa, has opened Salon Illuminate at 707 N. Cedar, Suite 7, near Kendall Yards. 

Grieve says the 650-square-foot space had been unoccupied since a developer bought the 106-year-old building there in 2006, so the space required some renovating.

“It took a lot of paint to get the aesthetic we wanted, and we also had to entirely redo the electrical,” Grieve says. “And of course we had to redo some plumbing to make it adaptable for all my shampoo units.”

Separate from Salon Illuminate, the building also contains a Pilates studio, an aesthetician, and a masseuse. 

“It’s really turning into a one-stop destination for wellness,” Grieve says. 

Grieve and employee Abbey Crawford, also formerly of Green Salon & Day Spa, offer coloring, deep conditioning, and extensions, among other services. Green says the salon focuses on using “clean,” fragrance-free products as much as possible. 

Grieve also offers “pug therapy” to clients to enjoy while they visit the salon. When clients book an appointment online, they are asked to indicate whether or not they have pet allergies. If not, Grieve allows her pugs full access to the salon and its clients.

Salon Illuminate is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Saturdays by appointment. 

 

—Virginia Thomas

House of Pop salon to open downtown

A new salon named the House of Pop is slated to open downtown next month in a 1,400-square-foot space at 227 W. Riverside.

 Co-owner Douglas McCoy, formerly a stylist at Urbanna, at 168 S. Division, says the focus will be on simplicity.

“We only do three things: cut, color, and blowouts,” McCoy says. “We’re keeping things as simple as possible and as easy to understand as possible.”

The salon, which McCoy says will most likely open in mid-September, officially will operate through Urbanna Inc. Rick Biel, who co-owns Urbanna, is McCoy’s business partner and co-owner of House of Pop. 

House of Pop’s space on Riverside Avenue previously was occupied by a real estate office. 

A total of eight employees, including five or six hairdressers, will work at the salon, which will also offer quarterly classes for local stylists, McCoy says.

 

—Virginia Thomas