Pilates studio moves into Kendall Yards

Spokane Pilates instructors Dana Wall and Sherry Lewis have moved their business, Core Pilates Spokane, to 1230 W. Summit Parkway in the Kendall Yards development from its original space in the Warehouse Athletic Facility, at 800 N. Hamilton, near Gonzaga University. 

Core Pilates, which Wall and Lewis operate through a company named Core Pilates & Wellness LLC, has about 14 classes a week in its 1,000-square-foot space, Lewis says. She and Wall are currently the only employees. 

“Right now we’re offering mat Pilates classes,” Lewis says. “Classes are 50 minutes to an hour long.” 

Wall says the classes focus on core strength, strength building, and alignment. Both Wall and Lewis have been teaching Pilates for two years, and both have been students of the practice for 10 years.  

“We trained under a protocol that was designed by a physical therapist, so our training is PT-based,” Wall says. 

In addition to its regular classes, Core Pilates also offers private sessions. 

In the future, the two hope to buy some Pilates equipment, Wall says. 

“Right now our focus is to build our clientele, and our focus is on building strength and alignment before we put them on machines,” she says. “In about six months, we’ll have them ready for equipment.”

Core Pilates offers an introductory package for $135 for 10 classes, Wall says, and clients have 60 days to use the package. A single class runs $15, private sessions are $50, and semi-private or group private sessions are $35.

—Katie Ross  

Buffalo Girls opens in Airway Heights

Two local entrepreneurs, Tamra Brannon and Ginger Lyons, have opened a retail store in Airway Heights called Buffalo Girls Vintage. 

The two women opened the store in mid-October in a leased 250-square-foot space at 14915 W. Highway 2, where they sell original and repurposed jewelry, artwork and home décor items. Brannon and Lyons use repurposed metal, hand stamped with various quotes to make their handmade necklaces, bracelets and other jewelry. They also carry Buffalo Girls Vintage line of t-shirts and pillows. 

Lyons says that along with retail sales the store includes an area where custom-designed jewelry is made for customers while they wait. 

“We wanted to start small, and the space is tiny but it serves our needs right now,” Lyons says. “People have really responded well and we are crazy busy.”

Lyons says Buffalo Girls Vintage also sells its handmade jewelry at the Davenport Hotel gift shop in downtown Spokane, as well as the Junk Gypsy Company retail store in Round Top, Texas. 

The Buffalo Girls Vintage store is open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday through Saturday. 

Lyons founded Buffalo Girls Vintage in 2010, and Brannon joined her as a business partner about two years ago. Previously, the two operated the business from their respective homes in northwest Spokane in the Five Mile neighborhood, selling repurposed furniture and vintage goods at local and regional vintage and antique shows. They currently operate the store themselves, but plan to add an employee in coming months.

 

—Judith Spitzer

New driver at wheel of Chattees in Valley

Wendi Mayberry says she’s now running the Chattees restaurant in Spokane Valley.

Mayberry says she has acquired the Chattees name, and she and her husband Marvin are leasing the Chattees restaurant building, at 11923 E. Trent.

“We just painted it and made it up like a 1950s diner,” she says.

Mayberry says she’ll continue to operate the restaurant under the Chattees name until spring, when she plans to change the name to Wendi’s Hot Rod Café.

Under the new management, the menu is similar to what Chattees offered before changing hands, she says.

Breakfast selections include omelets and chicken fried steak, and lunch items include burgers, pork chop sandwiches, chicken strips, fries and shakes.

She says the “mom and pop restaurant” has no other employees.

Chattees is open 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays, and 9 a.m-2 p.m. on Sundays.

Mayberry says the restaurant will have later hours in the spring and summer, at least on Wednesdays and Fridays when she plans to promote car-cruise nights.

Commercial real estate agents Ryan Towner, and John Powers, both of Spokane-based brokerage NAI Black, negotiated the lease.

 

—Mike McLean

Restaurateur opens pub on W. Broadway

Spokane restaurateur Matt Goodwin and partner Jordan Tampien have opened a new gastropub, called the Backyard Public House, just northwest of Kendall Yards west of downtown Spokane.  

The pub, which the two are operating through a company named Too Small To Fail LLC, is located in a 2,800-square-foot building at 811 W. Broadway, which Goodwin says he and Tampien purchased for $275,000. 

 “We have 12 beers on tap and craft cocktails, and a good wine selection,” he says.

On the food side, the pub will offer lunch and dinner on weeknights from 11 a.m. to midnight, and brunch as well on Saturdays and Sundays beginning at 9 a.m.

“This spring we’ll have a large patio that will add about 70 seats,” he says. “We’ll look at expanding our menu then.”

For brunch, Backyard’s offerings include chicken and waffles, eggs benedict, and several varieties of scrambles, Good win says. The most popular dinner item, he says, is the pub’s Cuban port sandwich. 

Goodwin is co-owner of two downtown Spokane bars, Fast Eddies Bar and Grill at 1 W. Spokane Falls Blvd. and The Volstead Act at 12 N. Post, in addition to South Hill bar Press Public House, at 909 S. Grand. He’s also co-owner of the Boiler Room, an artisan pizza restaurant at 6501 N. Cedar in the Five Mile area. Goodwin also is a local franchisee with Papa Johns, and owns an outlet of the pizza chain at2926 S. Regal. 

 

—Katie Ross