Retail

Fifty Percent Off shops to close later this month

Sister supply company will be shuttered as well

January 14, 2016

LDE Inc., the Spokane-based company that operates the Fifty Percent Off Card Shop retail chain, plans to close permanently its two remaining stores this month.

Smoking ban clears the air

Latest health concerns focus on effects of vaping products

January 14, 2016

LeAnn Bjerken

Ten years after Washington State's Smoking in Public Places law was put into effect, local health officials and restaurant owners agree that overall the smoking ban has been a good thing both for workers and for business.

Costco to move north Spokane store

Warehouse club move will shift coveted tax revenue

January 14, 2016

Mike McLean

Costco Wholesale Corp. plans to leave the city and move its busy north Spokane store a few miles north into an unincorporated area of the county.

Carhartt to open store downtown

Workwear apparel company to anchor Bennett Block

January 12, 2016

Journal of Business Staff

Hieber Properties, the Spokane-based development company that's renovating the historic Bennett Block in downtown Spokane, says it has signed Carhartt Inc., the Dearborn, Mich.-based maker of durable workwear apparel, as the anchor tenant for that prope

NorthTown remodel results in store shuffle

Redeveloped north wing leaves room for new stores

December 17, 2015

LeAnn Bjerken

NorthTown Mall's $8.5 million redevelopment of its north entrance has resulted in a shuffling of retailers and restaurants, with some new stores opening in the shopping center. 'Basically we've given our Queen Avenue entrance a facelift,â€ says

Inland Northwest retail sales to keep rising, for now

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December 17, 2015

LeAnn Bjerken

Following the trend of recent years, retailers here are again predicting sales growth for 2016. However, not all of those interviewed are confident this period of gains will last.

Dutch Bros. franchisee buys building for its headquarters

Two-story structure also has nonprofit 'incubator'

December 3, 2015

Mike McLean

Kevin Parker, co-owner GTG Ventures LLC, which operates the Spokane-area Dutch Bros. Coffee franchise, says an affiliated company has bought a 6,600-square-foot building north of downtown and has set up a central office for the franchise there. A handful

Yoke's buys former Haggen store in Liberty Lake

Supermarket shuttered on Nov. 30, after purchase

December 3, 2015

Yoke's Foods Inc., of Spokane Valley, has purchased the recently shuttered Haggen grocery store at 1233 N. Liberty Lake Road, in Liberty Lake. A U.S. bankruptcy judge approved the sale Nov. 24 as part of the sale of a large block of Haggen stores, incl

Business-as-usual blown away

Windstorm leaves many companies scramblingâ€”in different directions

December 3, 2015

LeAnn Bjerken

Following the Nov. 17 windstorm that rocked the Spokane area, many Inland Northwest businesses found themselves struggling in different ways. Those with power, and even some of those without, strived to stay open, both in an effort to help customers and t