Food co-op to open distribution center

 

Local Inland Northwest Cooperative, a Spokane Valley-based food cooperative that does business as LINC Foods, has leased 2,100 square feet of warehouse space at 3012 N. Nevada for its first dedicated distribution center.

LINC Foods specializes in selling sustainable, locally produced vegetables, fruits, grains, meats, and dairy products to colleges, hospitals, retirement communities, restaurants, and grocery stores.

The 2-year-old cooperative operates a malting facility in the Spokane Business & Industrial Park, at 3808 N. Sullivan Road, but has had no warehouse space, says Beth Robinette, who co-founded LINC Foods with Joel Williamson.

“This is strictly for a hub for the produce distribution side,” Robinette says of the newly leased space. “We needed somewhere more central for food distribution, because farmers bring food in from all around Spokane.”

The cooperative has 46 member farmers.

In addition to the founders, LINC Foods employs a sales director and a newly hired delivery driver, Robinette says.

The cooperative hopes to have the distribution center operational by the first of the year, she says.

Commercial real estate brokers Doug Byrd and Cassandra Becker, both of Byrd Real Estate Group LLC, and Tracy Lucas and Tracy Poff, both of Kiemle & Hagood Co., negotiated the lease.

—Mike McLean

 

Botanical shop opens in Saranac Commons

 

Parrish & Grove Botanicals, a new retail shop, has opened in the Saranac Commons building at 19 W. Main downtown.

The shop, which opened late last month, occupies just 360 square feet, most of which is packed full of plants and flowers. 

Chelsea Updegrove and her business partner, Amanda Parrish, own and operate the business, which specializes in exotic house plants and flowers. Customers also are encouraged to build their own bouquet or miniature ecosystem at the shop’s terrarium bar. 

Updegrove says both she and Parrish currently work at The Lands Council, just down the street from their new business. The shop has one other employee who serves as its manager. 

“We were interested in starting a kind of fresh flower market similar to Pike Place,” says Updegrove. “We felt that was what Saranac Commons needed, so we submitted a proposal.” 

Updegrove says she is a master gardener, specializing in vegetables, while Parrish has an affinity for houseplants.  

“Flowers can really complement a space,” she says. “The idea was to bring customers an experience, whether choosing their own bouquet, creating a terrarium, or finding a unique houseplant not available elsewhere.”

In addition to selling plants, flowers, and terrariums, the shop also is offering workshops on floral arrangement, houseplant care, and seasonal botanical projects such as wreath making. 

Updegrove says the shop just launched its website this month, and soon hopes to develop a floral subscription delivery service. 

“That service will allow either individuals or businesses to arrange for bimonthly or weekly deliveries of fresh floral arrangements,” she says. 

 

—LeAnn Bjerken

 

New Play It Again outlet opens here

 

Play It Again Sports, a local franchise outlet of a national retail chain that sells gently used sporting equipment, says it’s seeing its business pick up as the temperatures drop after having opened in late August. 

Co-owners Jared Field and Jake Pinger operate the store, located in the Five Mile Plaza at 1808 W. Francis. The two are leasing the 4,000-square-foot space there, which a Hallmark greeting card store formerly occupied, from Stejer Development. 

 “Our business really varies according to season,” says Field. “But right now our fitness equipment is doing really well, as is equipment for winter sports like hockey.” 

While the store’s main focus is on buying, selling, and trading used sports and fitness equipment, it also offers equipment repair and adjustments. In the winter season, those services include skate sharpening and ski and snowboard rentals.

Field says he formerly worked at another Play It Again Sports store here, which closed about 10 years ago. Now he has children involved in sports and volunteers as a baseball and hockey coach.

“Having my own kids involved in sports made me realize how expensive it can be,” he says. “We wanted to fill that need in this market, and we’ve gotten some great feedback so far.”

Play It Again Sports is a Parma, Ohio-based chain that is operated by parent company, Winmark Corp. Winmark owns several other used-goods franchise chains, including Plato’s Closet and Once Upon a Child, both of which have two locations in Spokane. Play It Again Sports has over 400 stores in the United States and Canada.

 

—LeAnn Bjerken

 

ABC Office expects to grow workforce

 

On the heels of opening a new office in Colville this month, ABC Office Equipment Co., a longtime office supply company located at 7322 E. Broadway in Spokane Valley, says it expects to add staff at the Valley location at the beginning of 2017. 

MiaCate Kennedy, ABC Office’s director of technology solutions, says the company doesn’t know yet how many new employees it will hire.

The company employs 25 workers, most of them full time. Five years ago, the company had 14 employees. ABC Office, run by president and CEO Mike Brandon, sells and services copiers and printers, in addition to selling, installing, and configuring networks for business.

ABC also handles technology network management, including IT support and management, which includes workstations, backup, security, and servers, Kennedy says.

The company’s new satellite office is in 1,000 square feet of leased space at 164 S. Main in Colville, which is about 70 miles north of Spokane. Kennedy says the company has five employees working out of both offices on a variety of assignments.

“Our Colville technicians and sales staff are better able to serve the Colville area and Stevens County from there,” says Kennedy.

Founded in 1952, ABC Office Equipment operates out of 16,000 square feet of space in a standalone building in Spokane Valley and says it provides services to approximately 1,500 customers per month. 

—Kevin Blocker