Petit Chat bakery expanding space

Brenda and Kevin Gerhart, a Spokane couple who own Petit Chat Village Bakery, at 9910 Waikiki Road, is expanding the business into two vacant spaces at the retail center in which the bakery is located.

Kevin Gerhart says the expansion project, which possibly could be completed later this month, will more than double the bakery's leased space to just under a total of 6,000 square feet.

"It will allow us to have more room for additional product display," he says. "It also will give us room in the current space we have for our retail-service area and customer seating."

He says an issue the business currently faces is that its small retail space seats fewer than 30 people, and that customers often come in and leave if they see that the seating area is full.

Gerhart estimates the business's total investment into the expansion is around $50,000. He adds that the company is serving as its own general contractor for the expansion and is subcontracting out specialty work.

The Gerharts bought Petit Chat in the fall of 2008, and Gerhart says they expanded the then wholesale bread bakery to a full-service bake shop that each day produces scratch-baked bread, pastries, cinnamon rolls, quiches, and other pastry items. Petit Chat also sells its products at wholesale prices to coffee shops and natural-food stores, he says.

The business currently employs nine people including its owners, and Gerhart says when the expansion is completed, he expects to hire four or five more part-time employees.

The phrase petit chat means "little cat" in French.

Fitness center adds North Side location

Liberty Lake-based Physzique LLC, which does business as Physzique Fitness, has opened a new outlet at 9301 N. Division, on Spokane's North Side.

The new facility, Physzique's second, is in 2,500 square feet of leased space and employs three people.

Husband-and-wife team Zach and Amy Hunt, who own Physzique, added the North Side operation to create a more convenient location for Physzique clients who had been driving long distances to the Liberty Lake facility, at 1611 N. Molter, says Amy Hunt.

She and her husband will continue to work primarily out of the Liberty Lake facility, Hunt says. Six other people are employed at that location, she says.

Physzique offers semi-private and private personal training sessions, customized workout programs, nutrition counseling, customized meal plans, and meal replacement programs. Both locations have a gym in house.

The Hunts hope to open locations on Spokane's South Hill and in Coeur d'Alene in the next two years, Amy Hunt says.

Sweet Repeat shop opens in the Valley

Husband-and-wife team Matt and Bernadette Crawford have opened Sweet Repeat Kids Resale Boutique, a used-clothing store, at 1510 N. Argonne in Spokane Valley.

The shop is located in 1,200 square feet of leased space, says Bernadette Crawford, who currently is the store's only employee. Another used-clothing store previously occupied the space.

Sweet Repeat buys and sells name-brand, gently used children's clothing, Crawford says. It also takes toys, books, cloth diapers, and maternity clothes, and offers cash or store credit. The store steam cleans every item it receives to make it presentable for resale, Crawford says.

Sweet Repeat also features Build-a-Bow, a service that allows customers to build their own ribbon hair flowers. Another company, Born in a Barn, rents a corner of the floor space and sells repurposed furniture, home decor, and sock monkeys, Crawford says.

Niche boutique to sell furniture, paper goods

Wojo Works LLC has opened as a niche retail boutique in 1,500 square feet of leased space at 824 W. Sprague, in downtown Spokane.

Wojo Works sells mid-century-style, modern-inspired household accessories and furnishings, including pieces from Blue Dot and Loll furniture designers, says Christopher Wojtowicz, who owns the boutique with his wife, Ladonna. The store also carries paper goods, such as notebooks and letterpress cards.

Wojtowicz, currently the store's only employee, says he loves mid-century modern design, and decided to act on that passion through entrepreneurship. Before opening Wojo Works, he was an affordable-housing developer.

Clothing store Katze Boutique previously was located in the space Wojo Works has leased.


Cloud computing firm unveils new services

A Spokane Valley-based cloud computer service, Datarang LLC, began last month offering two business services for storing and managing data over the Internet.

The company says one new service, called its DataBank Offsite Backup Services, allows subscribers automatically to back up all types of computers and computer services to Datarang's data vault. This also allows users to restore those files instantly if originals are damaged or destroyed, Datarang says.

The other service, DataBlast Managed File Transfer Services, is designed to accelerate and manage the transfer of large data files over the Internet. Datarang says it replaces an older file transfer protocol service that has been used to move large files between remote computers since the late 1970s.

The company says the much-faster DataBlast service allows for the transfer of files up to several gigabits in size. It also has security and auditing features that wasn't available with the previous transfer method, Datarang says.

The business, which opened last spring, is leasing 3,000 square feet of space at 18303 E. Corbin Place, just north of the intersection of Appleway Avenue and Greenacres Road. The owners are Eric Phillips and Chris Rostie.

North Side restaurant bought by father, son

Shan's Grill, a restaurant in the Indian Trail neighborhood on Spokane's North Side, recently changed hands. The eatery now is owned by father-son team John Oliveri and Johnny Oliveri, who have renamed it JJ's Grill & Brewhouse.

John Oliveri says the sale was finalized in late January. He declines to disclose the terms of the transaction.

The former Shan's Grill, located at 8801 N. Indian Trail Road, had been owned by Spokane couple Shannon and Todd Powell, who operated it for about five years through a venture called S & T Powell Enterprises Inc.

The 2,500-square-foot restaurant space has indoor seating for almost 100 people and an additional 20 patrons on its patio during warmer weather. It currently employs 10 people in addition to the owners, and Oliveri says some of the former Shan's Grill employees were retained.

The father and son have changed the atmosphere of the formerly contemporary-style restaurant to a sports bar, Oliveri says. A newly designed menu features casual American fare, and most items are under $10, he says. The new owners also have installed several more beer taps and have added more flat-screen TVs to show sporting events, Oliveri adds.

He says he and his son each have eight years of experience in the restaurant industry. He says he owned some smaller bars in the Spokane area in the 1980s, and his son worked at The Onion restaurant, in downtown Spokane, for more than five years.