Adams Tractor adds Stihl product line at East Trent store
Adams Tractor Co., located at 1602 E. Trent, in Spokane, is adding Stihl power equipment to its product line and has beefed up its parts and service department to handle Stihl tools.

Ken Adams, owner of the longtime family business, says he wants to increase revenues, and he's been interested in selling Stihl products for a number of years.

"It's a name brand that we felt was a good fit for our other brands," he says. Adams Tractor will sell the company's chain saws, trimmers, blowers, edgers, hedge trimmers, and accessories, protective apparel, fuel mix, and lubricants. It also sells tractors, backhoes, trailers, and other brands of power tools, and lawn and garden equipment.

Adams says he hired a trained Stihl parts person and a two-stroke engine technician who will be trained to service STIHL tools. That brings the company to a total of 18 employees.

The company plans to introduce its new product line at the Spokane Ag Expo Feb. 2-4 at the Spokane Convention Center. Adams says it will service Stihl brand products regardless of where they were purchased.

Adams Tractor Co. opened for business in 1929 at 810 N. Lincoln, and moved to its current location in 1932. Ken Adams is the grandson of the original owner.

Financial planner moving to larger space downtown
Greer Gibson Bacon is moving her business, Asset Planning & Management Inc., from a 1,000-square-foot leased office suite to a 2,400-square-foot suite in the U.S. Bank Building, at 422 W. Riverside.

The move is necessary, Bacon says, because her business needs more space.

"People have been kind of sitting on top of each other. I've been looking for space for over a year," she says.

The owner of the building is remodeling the new space, formerly occupied by J-U-B Engineers Inc., to Bacon's specifications. She says she hopes to complete the move by March 1.

Asset Planning & Management has operated in Spokane since 1997. The fee-only firm emphasizes financial planning and management for individuals and families, professional practices, and closely held businesses, but doesn't sell financial products.

Bacon says her business volume has grown more than 20 percent in the past year. She attributes that to the hiring of a key employee who helps her with business analysis, to technical outsourcing and going "almost paperless," which made the firm more efficient, and to maintaining her budget for advertising.

Mexican restaurant changing ownership
Hillary Tugaw says that she and her husband, Kevin, are purchasing the business assets of the El Sombrero Restaurant & Cantina, which is located in a leased building at 10117 N. Newport Highway across from Northpointe Plaza shopping center, from her parents, Ken and Bonnie Hagen.

Hillary has been managing the Mexican restaurant for her parents for about six years. She says she will continue to do so, and Kevin will help with maintenance while maintaining his full time job as a truck driver for Rowand Machinery Co.

The Tugaws plan to maintain the current name and menu, and to emphasize customer service and cleanliness in the restaurant. She says the sale is expected to be completed by July, after the liquor license transfer to the Tugaws and other paperwork has been completed.

Ray Rodriguez opened El Sombrero in 1976, and the Hagens purchased it from Cindy Crone in 2001. Hillary says the restaurant still uses Rodriguez's original recipes, and everything is made from scratch. The main area of the restaurant seats 64 patrons, and the cantina has seating for 43. The restaurant employs 15 people, all part time.

Women's golf shop opens downtown
Jeanette Delisle, retired from a civilian job with the U.S. Navy, has opened a golf shop called Fore! Women in about 1,650 square feet of leased space at 122 S. Monroe.

The shop sells high-end golf attire and accessories, and other apparel for active and leisure wear, says Delisle's daughter, Andria Malone, who manages the shop.

Delisle, Malone, and another daughter are all avid golfers. Malone says her mother opened the shop because she believed the selection of women's golf attire in Spokane was too limited, and the trio didn't have success in shopping online for what they wanted.

The shop markets its wares through word-of-mouth, through flyers passed out at local country clubs, and through monthly ladies' nights, when it stays open until 8 p.m. and serves refreshments. It also keeps a customers' wish list of brands and sizes of apparel to assist friends and family in buying gifts for customers.

Currently, the shop is open three days a week and has one part-time employee besides Malone, but plans to be open six days a week beginning March 1.