A restaurant named Clark’s Fork that’s the second outlet opened by a Montana man who hopes to grow the enterprise into a retail chain has become the first retail tenant to open in the multiuse Matilda Building in the 1000 block of north Hamilton Street in the University District.
The eatery is owned by Jeff Riggs, of Bozeman, Mont., who opened one by that same name in Bozeman in 2011.
General manager Mike Musser, recruited by Riggs to run the Spokane restaurant, says he had spent the last two decades as a chef at restaurants around the U.S. Musser says Riggs plans to expand the restaurants across the Pacific Northwest.
Musser says business has been strong here despite not opening until three days after Gonzaga University students finished classes in May.
“Honestly, without a grand opening, without the students, we’ve been doing phenomenal business,” he says.
The restaurant employs 26 people, most of whom work part time.
Similar to the Bozeman restaurant, the menu includes wraps, deli, and hot sandwiches, as well as breakfast items, homemade soups, and a salad bar. The restaurant has made it a focus to use only locally sourced products, he says.
Musser thinks the restaurant has found a niche of customers here who enjoy eating in a setting with no TVs or alcohol on the premises. “This is a chance for me to fix all the things I hated about the restaurant industry,” he says.
—Kevin Blocker
Elevator installation, service, and repair business Vertical Options LLC has bought and moved into a former Habitat For Humanity-Spokane building at 732 N. Napa.
Keely Friesen, who owns and operates the business along with her husband, Wade, says its new location includes 10,000 square feet of office and warehouse space, as well as a 2,000-square-foot smaller building it plans to remodel next winter into quarters for its apprentice school.
“We’ve had a Washington state-licensed apprenticeship program for elevator mechanics since April of 2015,” she says.
Vertical Options formerly occupied a 3,000-square-foot space at 626 N. Helena.
Friesen says Vertical Options, which the couple founded in 2011, offers a range of services for both residential and commercial elevator and lift systems.
“We also do work on things like chair lifts, escalators, and dumbwaiters,” she says. “About the only thing we don’t work with are grain elevators.”
Friesen says the business currently has a staff of 15, and is looking to hire additional mechanics as well as apprentices.
Looking ahead, she says the business hopes to become involved in the repair and installation of pneumatic vacuum elevators, which are similar to the systems banks and credit unions use to pass documents to and from customers in drive-through lanes.
“They’re newly approved here in Washington for residential use, most often by individuals with mobility issues,” she says. “We’re definitely interested in expanding into that market.”
—LeAnn Bjerken
Budding entrepreneur Patrick Arkangelo has started a business he’s dubbed an online convenience store for millennials.
Spokane-based Brando Delivery promises to deliver as many as 200 different consumer products, ranging from alcohol to pet food to cold medicine, to users within a five- to seven-mile radius of the company’s 600-square-foot warehouse, located behind Physzique Fitness at 8111 N. Division.
“The thought was to create a service for millennials in a way that makes sense for the time we live in now,” says Arkangelo, a 2010 graduate of North Central High School.
Users can download the app, Brando Delivery, from an Android or iOS device and shop online. The company promises to deliver products within 30 minutes from the time ordered.
Orders can be taken between noon and 2 a.m. seven days a week. There’s a $1.95 service charge to customers for orders placed, he says.
Arkangelo says he has access to a total of 40 drivers and tries to have six to 10 drivers on-call during operating hours.
“I want to be able to deliver to Cheney and the (Spokane) Valley by as early as September. Eventually, I’d like to reach Pullman and the Tri-Cities. I expect business to really pick up when classes resume for students,” he says.
—Kevin Blocker
Hydrangea Thrift Store has opened in the historic Hoban building at 2315 N. Monroe, where the Vintage Rabbit Antique Mall formerly was located.
Hydrangea’s owner and sole employee, Janet Wilson, says her business occupies just 950 square feet of space in the building, which recently was broken into several separate leased spaces.
Wilson says she’s originally from California, but moved to the Spokane area in 2006.
“I grew up in a military family so we were always moving around,” she says. “I liked the idea of creating a permanent brick-and-mortar store, someplace where people could drop in to visit and become known as regulars.”
Wilson says she initially started the business as more of a thrift store, but has adapted her products to better suit the location’s clientele.
“Customers in this neighborhood are looking more for vintage items, with a bit of an expensive feel,” she says. “So I’ve started to focus more on furniture, books, and unique décor pieces. I have less clothing and modern items now. The clothing I do have is more specialty pieces like those made of wool and leather.”
Wilson says this is her first time running a business, but she’s already learned a lot.
“I took a business course through Spokane Community College, but there are some things you have to experience firsthand to get a feel for,” she says. “I’ve worked for thrift stores in the past so I kind of have a sense of how I’d like things to go.”
—LeAnn Bjerken