Board-sports store opens on Hastings
Let It Ride, a shop that specializes in snowboards, wakeboards, skateboards, and board-sport related clothing and accessories, has opened at 101 E. Hastings Rd., just east of Mead High School.

Located in a 1,500-square-foot space in the Mead Plaza Shopping Center, the shop sells top brands in board-related gear, says owner Paul Jones.

The store plans to focus on selling Ride Snowboards, which are manufactured by a Seattle-based company.

Jones says he has been "boarding" for about 25 years, and opening a snowboard shop has been a dream of his since he managed a similar business years ago.

He says he hopes to create a place where local boarders not only can buy gear, but also can hang out and relax.

"I try to spend personal time with everyone who comes in, so when they leave they remember that they had a good experience here," Jones says.

He says he also plans to hold events at the store, including bus trips to local ski resorts this winter, and screenings of winter sport films.

Currently, Jones is the shop's only employee. Let It Ride is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and on Sunday from noon to 4 p.m.

Coffee stand accepts text-message orders
Sweet Beans Coffee, a drive-up coffee stand located at 1602 N. Ash, has begun offering its customers the option to text message their beverage orders in advance to the stand to minimize wait times.

Owner Kyla Goff, who owns the stand with her daughter, Tehran Glover, says she started the text-in service in September.

She says the business purchased a system to receive the text message orders, made by a San Diego-based company.

Goff says when a customer sends in a text message, the system alerts the stand's employees of the order and they press a button to send a message back to the customer, notifying them that their order has been received, Goff says. The customer pays for their drink when they arrive. Most orders are ready within two to three minutes, she says.

Goff says she has worked in the coffee industry for about 10 years, having formerly operated several businesses in Western Washington before moving here in January and opening Sweet Beans.

Sweet Beans Coffee also offers its customers the option to purchase pre-paid cards to make the payment process faster.

Sweet Beans employs five people, including Goff and her daughter. Customers can text their orders to (509) 842-4465.

Yoga studio teaches classes at 105 degrees
A new yoga studio, Yarrow Hot Yoga & Wellness Studio, is set to open here soon.

To be located in a 4,000-square-foot-space at 412 W. Boone, the studio will offer 22 classes a week, including Bikram-style yoga, also known as hot yoga, which is done in a room heated to 105 degrees Fahrenheit and that has 40 percent humidity.

Owner Beth Galis, who formerly taught yoga classes in her home's basement here, says that doing yoga in an intensely heated setting helps to cleanse the body through sweating. It also allows a person to go deeper into a yoga posture.

She says she has taught that style of yoga to clients up to the age of 70. "It's a gentle series of postures done in the heat. Anyone can do it," she says.

Having studied yoga for 13 years, as well as teaching it for about 10 years, Galis says she moved to Spokane from Bellingham, Wash., about two and a half years ago.

Galis, a licensed physical therapist, says her business also will include massage therapy, physical therapy, and energy therapy, an Eastern-style treatment thought to clear energy patterns in the body related to injury and disease.

Yoga classes range from $8 to $15 each, or clients can sign up for unlimited access to classes based on a specific time commitment, such as a four-month membership for $85 a month, she says.

Yarrow currently employs five certified yoga instructors, including Galis.

Downtown art gallery moves to North Monroe
The Gallery of THUM, which stands for Trendy Handcrafted Urban Marketplace, has moved from the Steam Plant Square downtown to a 2,000-square-foot building at 2910 N. Monroe, which the gallery's owner says she is planning to buy.

Owner Cecile Charles says she decided to move the gallery, which opened in 2006, from its 800-square-foot-space downtown to the North Monroe business district because the rent there was less expensive and because the business had outgrown its old space.

The new location also gives the gallery, which displays handcrafted pieces by more than 25 local artists, better visibility and easier access for customers, she says. The artwork there includes traditional paintings, sculptures, jewelry, and greeting cards, and almost every piece there is for sale, she says.

THUM opened at its new location on Sept. 1, and Charles says business volume has tripled since the move.

Charles says the gallery currently is displaying 24 different artists' work, and has 18 more artists on a waiting list.