Recording studio takes space along Garland
Amplified Wax, a recording studio owned and operated by Jimmy and Mandy Hill, has moved to 2,200 square feet of leased space at 920 W. Garland from the Hills' home.

Jimmy Hill says the business outgrew the home studio, where it operated for four years, and needed a more prominent location. The couple has spent the past month renovating the space on Garland and adding sound absorption panels, at a cost of about $7,000, to make it acoustically ready for recording, Hill says.

In addition to tracking, mixing, and mastering musical recordings for Eastern Washington and North Idaho artists, Amplified Wax offers a graphic-design service for CD covers, T-shirts, fliers, banners, and stickers to promote its clients. It charges $50 per hour for recording or $35 per hour for repeat clients.

Hill says he played in a band he started while at Eastern Washington University that toured for seven years. He also worked as a loan officer at Washington Mutual Bank, now JPMorgan Chase, here for six years before deciding to operate Amplified Wax full time. He says the studio received national attention last year when it recorded a Coca-Cola commercial with a band under contract with Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc., of Burbank, Calif.

NW Business Stamp moves to smaller space
Northwest Business Stamp Inc. has moved from a 3,000-square-foot space at 5210 N. Market to a smaller, 2,000-square-foot space next door, at 5218 N. Market, says owner Carrie Carlson.

"We needed to get rid of some accumulated stuff," Carlson says of her decision to move the 23-year-old business. She says she threw away 30 percent of her inventory and posted many items on Craigslist, which "went pretty fast."

The new location was remodeled recently, and Northwest Stamp added an office before the move, Carlson says.

The business manufactures laser-engraved products such as rubber and self-inking stamps, name plates, badges, signs, and professional seals. It also sells and repairs automatic time clocks, date machines, and numbering machines.

The company also does business in other countries through its website, www.nbstamp.com. Its business volume increased when Spokane Stamp Works Inc. closed in 2004, she says.

Besides the owner, Northwest Business Stamp has three employees.

Snap Fitness in Cd'A changes ownership
A Snap Fitness franchisee here, Jeff Spencer, has bought the Snap Fitness center at 3270 W. Prairie Avenue, in Coeur d'Alene, from Doug and Kim Mohney. Spencer declines to disclose the terms of the transaction.

Spencer currently operates three other Snap Fitness centers in the Spokane area, on Spokane's South Hill, at 3717 S. Grand; in Spokane Valley, at 13514 E. 32nd; and in Cheney, at 2726 First. He opened his first Snap Fitness in Pullman in 2007, and a year later, he opened one on Spokane's North Side, at 8801 N. Indian Trail Rd. He later sold both of those operations. Bill Muyanja now owns the Indian Trail facility.

Spencer says he returned to the Pacific Northwest about four years ago after retiring from the U.S. Air Force, having worked at the Pentagon, in Virginia.

"In the military, fitness is definitely part of the culture. It was a natural fit for me," he says of his decision to develop fitness centers. He says he anticipates adding at least two more locations and is looking in North Idaho, North Spokane, and other Spokane areas.

The Coeur d'Alene Snap Fitness has one full-time and two part-time employees and contracts with two personal trainers. Altogether, Spencer's fitness centers have 14 employees and 23 personal trainers with which it contracts.

Printer looks to grow with new equipment
Lancer Ltd., a longtime Spokane Valley commercial printer, has added new digital printing equipment that it says will allow it to do smaller jobs with faster turnaround times.

Owner Warren Jefvert declines to disclose the cost of the new Xerox Nuvera 144 high-speed printer, but he says he hopes the equipment will attract new business.

"People these days don't want 20,000 copies of something, but 5,000 copies is much more expensive on an offset press," Jefvert says. With the new equipment, he says Lancer Ltd. recently printed and assembled 350 1 1/2-inch thick training manuals in two days. With his older equipment, a project of that scope would have taken about five days, he says.

While the company originally focused on printing forms and supplying chart materials for medical and dental offices, Jefvert says its customers now include businesses such as financial institutions, manufacturers, and advertising agencies.

Lancer Ltd. was launched from Jefvert's basement in 1975. It moved several times to accommodate expansion, until it built its current 15,000-square-foot facility at 10020 E. Montgomery. The company has 22 employees.

Home-based office support firm opens
Bright Cyber Assist, a new home-based administrative-assistant service, has opened here.

Owner Brandy Bright says the business offers transcription, resume writing, data entry, secure Internet file-transfer protocol, and inbound call answering. It charges small-business clients from a range of fees based on their ability to pay for the services provided, Bright says.

Bright says she has a varied background that includes psychology, pharmacy, massage therapy, sales, and office administration. She says she decided to open her own business partly so she could spend more time at home with her 11-year-old daughter.

Bright says she has contracted with independent sales representatives in California and Maine to build up her service's client base and hopes to eventually offer nationwide service. She says she also contracts with an independent information-technology specialist for any technical problems that might arise.

Beyond Beads store in Valley downsized
Jody Young has downsized Beyond Beads Gallery, the Spokane Valley arts and crafts store she owns at 12021 E. Sprague.

Young says that she had been leasing two adjacent retail spaces at that location but gave up one lease to reduce the store space from 3,000 square feet to 1,500 square feet. She cut items such as clothing, candles, incense, and cards from her inventory and now sells only beads and beading supplies.

Young says that she is passing some of her savings in rent on to her customers, offering new incentives such as a frequent-buyers club and a beading contest with prizes.

Beyond Beads Gallery has one full-time and five part-time employees, besides Young. Another bead store here, Beyond Beads North, at 7452 N. Division, is owned by Cindy Majeski, and maintains a different inventory of arts and crafts products and other items, Young says.