A Spokane company, AAA Movers, is among seven residential moving firms fined Thursday by the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission for operating without a permit. AAA Movers, at 7807 N. Regal, was fined $5,000 for five violations. It filed for a valid permit and utilities…
Yes, we've become fixated on simple-to-read blog lists. Today's list, via Dealnews.com, is a rundown of what they call the 10 deal-friendliest retail sites. TWo of the sites are from Seattle: Amazon and Costco. They are: 1. Amazon 2. Walmart 3. Sears 4. Best Buy…
Business owners no doubt saw today's announcement that medical insurance costs are jumping a scary 9 percent compared with a year ago. Those news reports say health-insurance premiums paid by employers will keep going up, with the average annual cost of family coverage topping $15,000.…
View Larger Map A Spokane call center for a national firm that produces grocery receipt advertising will ramp up operations by adding 65 workers later this year. RTUI, based in Texas, already has 22 call center workers in Spokane at a new North side location…
The option of needle-free fall flu shots is being offered at Fred Meyer stores in Idaho and Washington, the company announced. The company press release said "most" Fred Meyer stores will have needle-free and traditional options. You may need to call ahead to confirm, if…
Honeywell Inc. announced this week it's doubling the refining and casting capacity for high-purity copper and tin at its Spokane Valley production center. The increase in capacity is a response to growing demand in the semiconductor industry, a Honeywell press release said. Demand for copper…
As more business compete harder to win customers online, the notion of customer-service grows even more important. We came upon the following list (produced by FreeShipping.org), which lays down a list of 10 firms with sensible, compassionate return policies: 1. endless.com The online-only shoe merchant…
Spokane-based Greater Spokane Inc. is launching a preliminary study to determine if area voters would support a port district. Mentioned during the recent GSI annual meeting, the idea of a port district has resurfaced several times among proponents who say it can help economic development.…
Like we used to do weekly when the SR ran "Here's the Dirt," we're still watching the comings and goings of Spokane-area retailers. Here's a quick update on the Walk Shoppe: The Walk Shoppe, a shoe and footwear boutique, has opened at the recently completed…
View Larger Map A Spokane Valley childhood health and fitness publisher, Focused Fitness, is expanding its operations and will move into a 18,000-square-foot building next spring. That new building will include offices and a 4,200-square-foot gym where staff can give hands-on training for health educators…
Spokane golf equipment retailer The Golfmen has moved into 4,000 square feet in the Spokane Business and Industrial Park, in Spokane Valley. The parent firm of The Golfmen is JRS Investments LLC. The company's Facebook page says it's developed a new kind of golf tee.…
Today's infographic comes by way of Stephen Von Worley, an American guy who has a lovely website called Datapointed.net. The site is a festive use of visualizations to explain or track social and historical stuff. Von Worley went to some trouble looking for a way…
View Larger Map You may have heard already that memorabilia and items from closed Spokane restaurant Cyrus O’Leary's will be auctioned off this Saturday. The preview will be Friday at the downtown eatery, which closed its doors on Sept. 11. Among the items to be…
Quincy continues using its data-center cluster as a way to increase its economic profile. The acting U.S. Commerce Secretary, Rebecca Blank, announced on Wednesday that Quincy has been given a $3 million Economic Development Administration (EDA) grant to build a reverse osmosis treatment plant and…
Our take-away from Washington State University's announcement of a $27 million gift from Washington's fruit tree industry is the diversity with which growers responded to a plan to tax themselves in order to raise that amount. Apple and pear growers said, OK, we'll do it.…
View Larger Map It's taken Patrick McPherson pretty much a full year getting his new business, the Manito Tap House, open. McPherson, who hails from the Tri-Cities, started the process of converting the former Pear Tree Inn at Manito Shopping Center back in fall of…
The new North Face Store, which took over the River Park Square space held by Talbot's, will open on Friday Sept. 30. The outdoor gear retailer has been working on its interior for the past two months. If there's going to be any sort of…
The next Executive Connect Breakfast, this Thursday, gives you the perfect chance to ask Jim Frank how things are going at the big MeadowWood Technology project in Liberty Lake or the Kendall Yards project near downtown. The meeting starts at 7:30 a.m. at the Spokane…
August is a typically decent jobs month, but the latest job totals from the state and from Spokane County show a continuation of a generally OK year, but nothing great. The preliminary jobless number for Spokane County for August is 9.2 percent, according to the…
About 2,500 people turned in applications this week to work at the new Spokane Trader Joe's store, said company spokeswoman Alison Mochizuki. A new photo of applicants filling out forms outside the building will appear in Saturday's edition of The Spokesman-Review and Spokesman.com. Mochizuki said…
The high unemployment rate in parts of North Idaho fell a little last month – the first positive sign in a year or more. The jobless rate in August was 11.6 percent in Kootenai County, down from 11.8 percent in July, the Idaho Department of…
The U.S. Postal Service says mail processing in Missoula and Kalispell could move to Spokane if those two operations are part of 252 processing centers nationwide that could be closed in cost-cutting measures. A USPS study released Thursday said the centers or facilities that could…
Stephanie Cates, marketing director for Spokane Valley's Sterling International, was a featured guest on a segment today of WSJ's Lunch Break. Sterling makes the Rescue line of bug killing traps. Cates got a chance to sound off on the company's recently launched stink bug traps.…
The digital divide? You remember it, don't you? It's that gaping chasm separating you guys with broadband from those who have to sputter along using a dial up modem, or else line up at the library.Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable operator, plans to help…
OLYMPIA, Wash. — Washington officials are preparing to release details on the state’s employment situation in August. The information from the Employment Security Department on Wednesday comes after recent months showed conflicting signals about the economy. The number of jobs has grown for 11 consecutive…