Video concern here wins global project



Forman & Co., a Deer Park-based video production company, says it is finishing a project for Accenture, a global management consulting and technology services company based in Dublin, Ireland.

Mark Forman, co-owner of Forman & Co. along with his wife, Kathleen Secrest, says filming for the project was done in Spokane, Seattle, and Chicago. The company partnered with Spokane-based Center for Personal Protection & Safety Inc. to produce the videos for Accenture, including some videos specifically designed for audiences in China, India, and the Middle East.

The videos, which the company has worked on since early this year, provide training for employees on how to deal with a hostile intruder who has a weapon in the workplace, Forman says. He declines to disclose the contract amount. He expected the videos would be ready for delivery in late October.

Prior to launching Forman & Co. in 2008, Forman was a founding partner along with Frank Swoboda of Spokane-based Corner Booth Productions Inc., which ceased operations in 2008. Swoboda now operates a separate video production company in Spokane named Corner Booth Media Inc.

Forman says he and his wife are the only employees of Foreman & Co., which they operate from their home in Deer Park. He says the company occasionally hires people on a contract basis to work on larger film projects as needed.

Forman & Co. specializes mostly in producing videos on worker training, but also makes short videos for marketing and fundraising.

—Treva Lind



Candy store moves; ice cream shop opens



Aaron Blackmer and his wife, Rachelle, who are co-owners of two Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory franchise stores here, have opened an additional business, Pete & Belle's Ice Cream Shop, in the Spokane Valley.

The couple also moved the Valley outlet of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory from Sullivan Road to a space next door to the ice cream shop, in a retail center located at 1330 N. Argonne. An Ace Hardware store also recently opened in the same retail center, which previously was occupied by a Spear's Furniture store.

Pete & Belle's sells 48 flavors of ice cream, blended coffee drinks, and smoothies. The Rocky Mountain candy outlet sells gourmet chocolates, fudge, caramel apples, and dipped strawberries. The two stores together employ 10 people, Aaron Blackmer says.

The other Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory outlet here is under the escalator on the main floor of River Park Square, in downtown Spokane.

The Durango, Colo.-based Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory chain includes about 280 franchise outlets nationwide, Blackmer says.

—Treva Lind



Body shop moves to Valley location



Can-Am Body Shop, a longtime Spokane auto collision-repair and paint shop, has moved to the Johnson Business Park, in Spokane Valley, says Tracey Schuerman, the office manager at the shop.

Schuerman says the shop has relocated to the space at 1104 N. Park recently vacated by Dempsey Masonry Inc., which moved to another location in the business park.

Can-Am Body Shop now occupies 4,600 square feet of leased space, which is almost double the usable space it had in its former location, she says.

The shop had been located at 2630 E. Sprague for 44 years, Schuerman says.

She says Can-Am also has constructed a new paint booth that meets the latest environmental standards. Eventually, the body shop plans to install heat equipment in the paint booth to cure paint faster, which will enable the shop to increase production.

Schuerman, who claims she started "helping out at the shop in 1981 and never left," says the shop has moved its frame rack from the Sprague location. A frame rack is a hydraulic machine used in heavy collision repair to restore a damaged car frame or chassis to its original shape.

The shop has four employees in addition to its owner, James Breesnee, who is Schuerman's father.

Commercial real estate agents Don Huddleston, of Village Square Realty Inc., of Spokane Valley, and Guy Byrd, of Cornerstone Property Advisors LLC, of Spokane, handled the lease.

—Mike McLean



Item auction business relocates to new space



A Spokane-based franchisee of the iSold It On eBay chain has moved from its former site on Spokane's South Hill to larger quarters at 1014 N. Pines in Spokane Valley, says owner Carmen Marshall.

The business opened in its original location in 2008, says Marshall, who owns the business with her husband, Cam.

At its new location, the business has 1,000 square feet of office space and a 3,000-square-foot warehouse, Marshall says. Its previous office was also 1,000 square feet, she says, but it didn't have any warehouse space, she says.

iSold, Marshall says, enables customers to drop off items they wish to sell on eBay, and the company sells the items for the customer. It takes a percentage, Marshall says, and cuts the customer a check for the rest. Marshall says the volume of items sold ranges from entire estate sales to just one or two items per customer.

The Marshalls moved to Spokane from Seattle in 2008, she says. At that time, Marshall was already selling items on eBay for friends.

"It got to the point where I was spending so much time listing their items, I realized I should start charging," she says. "Eventually, I thought I'm just going to start a store."

The iSold It On eBay franchise is based in Frisco, Texas, and includes 17 locations nationwide.

—Katie Ross