Pete's Independent Honda changes hands
Ken Peterson says he has purchased Pete's Independent Honda, an automotive repair shop at 4409 E. Sprague, from Peter Nguyen, for an undisclosed sum and plans to continue to operate the business under that name.

The shop specializes in work on Honda and Acura makes of cars, and Peterson, who has 15 years of mechanical experience at a Honda dealership in Kirkland, Wash., describes the business as a "dealership alternative."

He says the leased shop has four bays and about 400 square feet of office space, and handles all types of auto-service and repair needs.

Peterson says he has improved the customer waiting area and has done "major cleanup work" in the shop since taking over the business last month.

Peterson says he is trying to grow the shop's customer base by using direct-mail advertising throughout the South Hill and Spokane Valley.

Pete's Independent Honda currently employs three people, including Peterson.

Engineer opens firm as concern leaves area
The former director here for a California engineering company that recently ended its affiliation with offices it had opened in Spokane Valley and Hayden, Idaho, has formed his own company in Hayden, called Earth Services Northwest PLLC.

The new firm's owner, Karl Harmon, says he has leased the 1,500-square-foot Hayden office, at 10623 N. Government Way, that his former employer, San Luis Obispo, Calif.,-based Earth Systems Services Inc., had operated under the name Earth Systems Northwest. Harmon says the Spokane Valley location, at 505 N. Argonne, has been vacated, and his company has bought all of Earth Systems' assets in the region.

Earth Systems Services operates mostly in California, but expanded into the Northwest five years ago, says Harmon, adding that the company's decision to discontinue its Northwest division is a result of a downturn in California's economy and a need to concentrate efforts in its home state.

The company also operates an office in Arizona.

Harmon says the services he offers include geotechnical engineering, environmental consulting, engineering geology, and material testing and inspection.

Harmon says he currently is the sole employee of Earth Services Northwest, but hopes to add more people before long.

Dcor and gift store reopens in Hayden
Unique Motif, a store that specializes in imported home dcor, gifts, and furnishings, has reopened under new ownership in its previous location in the Prairie Shopping Center, near the northeast corner of U.S. 95 and Prairie Avenue, in Hayden, Idaho, says Dean Isaacson, who together with his wife, Robin, bought the store for an undisclosed sum.

Isaacson says the store, which occupies 1,800 total square feet of floor space and includes a 1,500-square-foot show room, formerly was owned by Gene and Sue Kushlan and had been closed for about four months. Unique Motif's inventory was included in the transaction.

Some of the items the store carries are decorative and aromatic candles, wind chimes, bird cages, textiles, dressers, end tables, framed art, vases, wine accessories, and kitchen and bath decor items.

The store is open Tuesday through Saturday, and Isaacson says he and his wife are the only full-time employees, although he adds that three other family members will work at the store in a part-time capacity.

White Box Pies moves north of downtown
White Box Pies LLC, a pie bakery and sandwich restaurant that opened here in 2002, relocated last month to a 1,300-square-foot space at 28 E. Sharp from a smaller space it occupied at 415 N. Sullivan, says Shirley Glodt, who owns the business with her husband, John. In July, White Box closed a second location it operated in North Spokane.

Glodt says the new location's proximity to Gonzaga University and to nearby businesses, coupled with its high visibility from Ruby Street and Division Street, already has boosted sales.

"I've never made so much food in my life," says Glodt.

White Box Pies makes a variety of sandwiches, wraps, salads, soups, quiches, and pies that can be eaten at the restaurant or ordered to go. The business also offers catering services, maintains a Web site on which customers can order pies from anywhere in the U.S. or Canada, and operates a wholesale division through which it supplies its pies to restaurants, says Glodt.

White Box Pies currently employs two people in addition to the Glodts.

Beauty boutique opens in Spokane Valley Mall
Pure Beauty LLC, a boutique that carries all-natural and organic beauty and baby care products, has opened in an about 1,000-square-foot space on the second floor of the Spokane Valley Mall, says shop owner Amber Doyle.

She says the store's inventory includes toxin-free skin products, cosmetics, nail polishes, and hair dye, most of which are manufactured in the U.S. and Australia.

Doyle decided to open the store when she found that she was having irritating reactions to skin-care products that contained synthetic preservatives, also known as parabens. She says she's invested a lot of time researching and building an inventory of natural beauty products, and hopes to educate customers about the benefits of using them.