Marketing company changes name, focus 

Unleashed Online Marketing LLC, of Spokane, has changed its name to Aezy as part of a shift in its focus toward online media buying services and away from developing marketing campaigns. 

Chris Reilly, the company’s owner, says it also is adding two more employees, bringing the total number of workers there to 10.

“We wanted to make online media from A to Z accessible and effective,” Reilly says. “We had a choice to make: compete with our very best customers on a variety of services, including banner and design, or partner with them, and we chose to be a resource to ad agencies.” 

Aezy, which is located at 1227 W. Summit Parkway in the Kendall Yards development northwest of downtown Spokane, also has launched AezyACCESS, a new software product the company has developed. The product enables advertising clients to more easily plan large and small ad campaigns and currently in the patent process. 

The tool is good for planning campaigns, optimizing while on the go, and getting instant feedback, and is intended for use by creative agencies and business clients, Reilly says. 

He says there are many gaps in the way media is bought and sold. 

“Ad campaigns work best when creative messaging, brand strategy, and media placement, online and offline, are working together towards a common goal,” he says. 

—Judith Spitzer

Ex-Bruchi’s owner opens new eatery

Former Bruchi’s Corp. franchisee Dong Kim has opened a new eatery, called Phillylicious, on Spokane’s North Side through a company named Shinny Light Inc. that he’s founded. 

The restaurant is located in a space formerly occupied by the Bruchi’s CheeseSteaks & Subs at 5422 N. Division. 

The restaurant currently employs Kim, two full-time cooks, and two part-time cooks. 

Kim had operated as a Bruchi’s franchisee there since 2008, when he took over the restaurant from its previous owner. As part of a renovation, the building was painted black, and the signs on the building and on the street were replaced to reflect the restaurant’s new identity. Phillylicious will be using a new ordering system, through which customers can use an iPad to create sandwiches a la carte, with no set menu. The business also features rice bowls on its menu.

Shinny Light has plans to open another outlet by the end of 2015. 

—Lucas Thayer

Pizza maker moves its Valley location

Pizza delivery and carryout business Pizza Pipeline Inc., of Spokane, has relocated its Spokane Valley outlet  from 15701 E. Sprague to 415 N. Sullivan. It opened in the new location on April 7, says Mike Kight, company co-owner. 

Pizza Pipeline remodeled the 2,200-square-foot leased space, Kight says, including adding ovens and freezers. 

“We had to make it a restaurant,” he says. The space was formerly the Jung Kim’s Taekwondo studio. 

The pizza outlet will have between 10 and 15 employees, Kight says. He says Pizza Pipeline decided to relocate after its 20-year lease at the former location expired. 

“We were always fighting for visibility,” he says. “Access was a big fight, and this space was available.”

Parking, in particular, was an issue at the former location, and customers complained about it, Kight says. The new space is easier to park at and to get in and out of, he says. 

The company first opened here 25 years ago. In addition to its Sullivan outlet, Pizza Pipeline has five other Spokane-area locations, including three on the North Side, one in Millwood, and one on the South Hill. 

Kight says the company also plans to remodel its outlet at 1724 W. Wellesley in the Shadle neighborhood. 

“That’s the next project we’re working on right now,” Kight says. 

—Katie Ross

Marijuana market opens on Third

The Eastern Washington Cannabis Market recently leased a 4,000-square-foot building at 953 E. Third in Spokane, and opened it as a hub for medical-marijuana dispensaries to do business there, after a year-long process of licensing and registration for tax purposes. 

Shaun McHenry, general manager of the market, likens the business to a farmer’s market. EWCM employs McHenry, manager Steve Abbott, and a receptionist full time. EWCM doesn’t distribute marijuana itself, but rather, provides a venue for distributors to sell medicinal marijuana and paraphernalia. It’s a formula that patients seem to enjoy, McHenry asserts.

“They (patients) really like the fact that they can see everyone at once,” he says.

Currently, only medicinal marijuana is being sold at EWCM, and there are no plans to expand into the sale of recreational marijuana in the future, McHenry says. Patients with prescriptions for medicinal marijuana are verified before they are allowed access to the market. Six distributors are doing business in the space provided by EWCM, with four more on the way pending a licensing process, he says. 

EWCM is similar to some medical-marijuana markets in the Seattle area, McHenry adds. 

 

—Lucas Thayer

Pathways Children’s Services relocates

Dr. Billie Jo Davis has leased 750 square feet of office space at 300 N. Argonne Road, in Spokane Valley, and has moved Pathways Children’s Services there from a smaller space at 708 N. Argonne.

Davis, who has a doctorate degree in psychology, says she decided to relocate her 5-year-old practice because she needed more room for her seven employees. She adds that she likely will hire more employees by this summer.

Her practice provides what technically are referred to as tutoring services to children who mostly suffer from autism, but she says that due to its specialized focus, those services involve a different type of tutoring many parents might be familiar with.

“All of my employees have bachelor’s degrees and most of them are working on master’s degrees,” while employed as behavior specialists, she says.

Matthew Byrd, of Cornerstone Property Advisors, and Kevin Maher, of PacWest Property Management, handled the transaction.

 

—Kim Crompton