Promoter purchases assets of The Blvd, renames it Seaside


Bill Powers, a Spokane concert promoter for the past 10 years, has purchased the assets of The Blvd concert house, at 230 W. Riverside, from Ray Wilson, and has renamed it Seaside. Powers declines to disclose the purchase price.

"I was already familiar with the basic format of the business," Powers says. "It was an easy decision to make—to let it close down or take over."

He says his goal in taking the reins of the business is to get a boost in attendance at concerts. He is promoting events through flyers, and through the social media Web sites Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. He formerly brought concerts to local venues such as The Empyrean, the Big Dipper, and Mootsies.

Powers says Seaside will offer concerts with music styles ranging from heavy metal to hip hop to jazz. It offers karaoke on Monday nights and occasional open jam sessions. Some early evening concerts will be promoted for all ages, and others will be geared to the nightclub crowd.

The concert house, which employs three people part time, sells snacks such as french fries, onion rings, and mozzarella sticks, and has a full bar, Powers says. He says he doesn't have any plans to remodel the about 2,000 square feet of leased space there.

Esthetician opens new salon on East Sprague
Nancy Little is opening a skin care and massage salon, called Rejuvenation Station, in 700 square feet of leased space at 728 E. Sprague, east of downtown Spokane. The salon will include four practitioners.

Little says she became interested in helping people with skin problems several years ago after she was treated for melanoma skin cancer. As a result, she says she went back to school to become a licensed esthetician. She says she has seen more than 50 clients in the past seven months, since she began her training, and has treated several clients in their homes in the past two months, since she received her license.

Massage therapist Rufino Zisumbo will sublease space from Little. He specializes in sports therapy, reflexology, and deep-tissue massage.

Melissa Anderson, another esthetician, will lease space from Little to do facials and hair removal, Little says, and Melissa Kingsbury will do hair removal, spray tanning, and eyebrow and eyelash tinting.

Rejuvenation Station plans to take walk-ins on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and see other clients by appointment.

Post Falls boutique expands to space at Coeur d'Alene resort
Laura Heikkila and Melissa Valdovinos have opened Smitten Clothing Boutique, a retail women's and men's clothing outlet, in The Resort Plaza Shops, at 210 E. Sherman, in Coeur d'Alene. They also opened a women's clothing shop with the same name at 318 N. Spokane, in Post Falls, last August.

Heikkila says the shops offer clothing in a style she calls "rock chic," which she describes as "very contemporary, very cute, and fun." She says the Coeur d'Alene shop will offer more dressy clothing that would appeal to tourists, and also men's clothing. Prices range from $30 to $40 for tops, and $40 to $160 for denim, she says. Most of the clothing comes from vendors in California, where the two friends enjoyed buying clothes together before they decided to become retailers.

The Post Falls Smitten Boutique turned a profit in its first month, Heikkila says. It has three part-time employees and occupies 1,500 square feet of leased space. The Coeur d'Alene shop has three part-time employees and occupies a 2,000-square-foot space.

Heikkila also owns Heikkila Insurance Agency, at 2525 E. Seltice Way, in Post Falls, and Valdovinos also owns Leopard Lattes at 220 N. Spokane, in Post Falls.

New nail salon opens at South Hill center
Mai and Ho To have opened Mai's Nails, at 4310 S. Regal, in the 1,300-square-foot space formerly occupied by MaggieMoo's Ice Cream & Treatery, in The Village at Regal Pond commercial center.

Mai To trained as a nail technician in Seattle after coming to the U.S. eight years ago from Vietnam, she says. She worked for another nail salon on the South Hill before deciding to open her own salon in March.

Mai's Nails offers manicures, pedicures, acrylic nail application, and waxing, and is open seven days a week. It employs three other nail technicians, Ho To says.

The South Hill MaggieMoo's closed about six months ago. Jeff Ottmar, of Cornerstone Properties, handled the leasing of the Mai's Nails location.

New pet salon opens in North Wall space
Marina Ellis has opened Lil Bit O'Grooming pet salon at 4422 N. Wall, in space formerly occupied by Pets Are People Too.

The new salon offers bathing, grooming, nail clipping, ear cleaning, flea treatments, de-shedding and de-matting for both cats and dogs. Its prices range from $20 to $60, depending on the size of pet and its type of coat.

Ellis says she opened the grooming salon after she started breeding Yorkshire terriers and Maltese dogs for show. She learned to do her own grooming, then decided to do it as a business when the space on Wall Street was listed for rent. She says she spent the past three months renovating the 400-square-foot space at a cost of just under $10,000.

Ellis says she has a background in middle management and customer service with Bank of America and Lamonts Apparel Inc. She has hired two part-time bathers and one full-time groomer. She says that her appointment schedule filled up by her second week in operation.

Bellezza Salon & Spa reopens on West Plains
Peyton Moore has moved her Bellezza Salon & Spa from downtown Spokane to an about 2,000-square-foot studio her husband built for her at 6113 S. Abbott Road, on their property on the West Plains. Moore offers women's, men's, and children's haircuts; color; waxing; perms; and highlighting. She says she was afraid she would lose most of her clients when she moved her business out of the city, but says all but two have stayed with her.

Esthetician Cathleen Rueschenberg is leasing about 100 square feet of floor space from Moore at the studio, and sees clients there in the afternoons, evenings, and weekends by appointment. Her family had gone to Moore as customers for years before Rueschenberg completed her training. She does facials, waxing, and airbrush makeup.