Small Business Watch

Four women open Liberty Lake store

Lollipop Lemondrop, a women's and children's used clothing outlet, has opened in 1,600 square feet of space at 23129 E. Mission, in Liberty Lake.

Kelsy McHenry, who co-owns Lollipop Lemondrop with Cindy Constance, says the retail shop shares the space with Terrazzo Home, an Italian home dcor retail shop owned by Rebecca Starr, and Mishakaudi, a handmade jewelry business operated by Marissa Lewis. All four women have small children, and they chose to operate out of the space together so each could work only one or two days a week, McHenry says.

McHenry was a dental office manager in Seattle for 10 years. She began selling consignment clothing through home parties in Liberty Lake, which she says were successful enough to warrant opening a retail outlet. Constance also owns a graphic design firm, Creativity House, in Liberty Lake, and Starr has a background in mortgage lending, McHenry says. Lewis has been making jewelry all her life because her family owned a handmade jewelry business, her website says.


Financial planner relocates downtown

Frost Financial Planning LLC has moved to a 400-square-foot space at 308 W. First downtown, from 120 square feet of business incubator space, at 1421 N. Meadowwood Lane, in Liberty Lake.

Owner Melinda Engel says her business focus is different from most other financial planners in that she does what she calls "life coaching," along with tax preparation and financial planning. She says that amounts to counseling sessions, usually over the phone, that are intended to help clients achieve business and career development, healthier lifestyles, and "self-actualization."

Engel says she works with clients of all income levels, and charges an hourly rate based on a sliding-fee scale. She says she would eventually like to return to office space in Liberty Lake.

Frost Financial Planning is a member of Garrett Planning Network Inc., of Shawnee Mission, Kan., she says.

Office-supplies firm moves to residence

Presentation Solutions, a business that sells office equipment and supplies directly to school districts and businesses, has moved its inventory and offices from a 2,400-square-foot leased space at 14415 E. Sprague, in Spokane Valley, to the owners' South Hill home.

"We're not a retail business. We don't require walk-in traffic," Presentation Solutions co-owner MaryAnn Dalessi says of the move. "There was plenty of room in our home. We're getting rid of a lot of overhead." Dalessi also says she appreciates not having to commute to the Valley every day.

Presentation Solutions sells binding machines, laminators, shredders, collators, folding machines, and shrink-wrap systems, as well as supplies for those machines. Dalessi says the business has been growing month-to-month from last year's sales figures.

The business has had employees from time to time, but currently employs only Dalessi and her husband, Mike Dalessi, she says. The couple formed Presentation Solutions after buying the assets of a business named Northwest Challenges in 2006.

Sound, video expert launches new website

HD DJ Surround Sound Productions says it is gearing up for the summer wedding and reunion season with a new website, www.hddjsurroundsound.com.

Owner Dan Humann has moved into sound and live video for such events, along with the wedding photography and videography he has done in the past.

HD DJ Surround Sound uses high-fidelity recordings and wide-screen video. Humann says he projects live video, as well as Blu-Ray concert footage, at dances. The website says the cost of sound and video for an event varies based on the size and location of the event. The company also rents sound systems, screens, projectors, and wide-screen cameras.

Humann says he worked for 12 years in Southern California, performing recording, audio production, and video production for television and movies. He says he handled sound work for movies such as "Passenger 57" and "Romeo Must Die." He returned to the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area, where he grew up, eight years ago.

Spokane Metro mag to resume publication

Spokane Metro Magazine plans to resume publication this summer. Eric Klamper, the former marketing director for the magazine, has taken the reins as publisher and has secured financing for the venture from two Spokane investors.

Collin Klamper, the previous publisher, gave the remaining assets of the business to Eric, his half-brother, when the magazine ceased publication following its August 2009 issue. He has moved to Washington, D.C., Eric Klamper says.

Steve Larsen, of Larsen Financial Corp, of Spokane, and entrepreneur Brad Greene have agreed to fund the publication's restart, says Klamper. He currently is finalizing details for the lease of a 1,500-square-foot space downtown, and he expects the magazine to have seven full-time employees. It will focus on advertising sales rather than subscriptions for income, and besides the hard copy, will place an emphasis on digital media, Klamper says.

The monthly magazine will have similar content to the original publication, he says.


Camper-trailer seller to open on Sprague

A new camper-trailer retailer called Full Circle Tear Drop Trailers LLC plans to open June 1 at 3104 E. Sprague, in Spokane.

Shannon Coberly, who co-owns Full Circle with fiance Cindy Thomas, says the business will take half of the showroom and half of the outside lot currently occupied by Cost Low Automotive Warehouse, which Richard Gimeno has owned and operated there for 29 years.

The teardrop-style camper trailers that Full Circle will sell are four or five feet wide and eight to 10 feet long. They can be pulled behind a four-cylinder car, Coberly says. Common in the 1940s, the trailers are becoming popular again with recreational-vehicle users because they're less expensive to tow than larger trailers. The couple named the business Full Circle for the trailers' rebounding popularity, he says.

Coberly and Thomas, blues-rock musicians who have played for area events for a number of years, moved from the Bellingham, Wash., area last fall and bought a house in Chattaroy. They have invested $50,000 of their own startup capital in the business, Coberly says. The couple plan to wed in May and honeymoon in a teardrop trailer.