North Side bakery plans Valley outlet

Amber Owens, co-owner of Celebrations Bakery LLC in the Garland District on Spokane's North Side, says the company plans to expand with a second location in Spokane Valley.

Owens says the business is leasing about 1,200 square feet of floor space in a small retail center at 315 S. Sullivan for the new bakery, which is expected to open within the next few weeks. She says Celebrations will be the first tenant to occupy the retail space.

In 2011, she and her husband, Joe Owens, purchased the assets of a cookie-and-cupcake business at 713 W. Garland, renaming it Celebrations Bakery and adding custom cakes, cake pops, and specialty orders for personal and business events.

Owens says the business is producing at capacity at the Garland outlet, especially for wedding cake orders, so the new store provides it with space to reach a number of Spokane Valley customers it serves.

"We've had requests from customers who come to us from the Valley, and we thought that would be the best market for us to expand," she says.

Owens says the business recently hired four employees to work in the Valley. In addition to the owners, who work in the business, three employees are based at its Garland location.

Amber Owens has been baking and making cakes for more than five years and oversees daily operations, while her husband handles the business's finances and also works as general restaurant manager at the Davenport Hotel.

—Treva Lind



Cd'A-area shop opens, sells wine, beer, smokes



Lewiston, Idaho-based Smokes & Suds Inc. has opened a store in the Coeur d'Alene area, its second outlet overall, to sell beer, wine, and tobacco products.

Owner Chris Meacham, who says he moved to Coeur d'Alene recently to open the shop, says the company is leasing a 3,500-square-foot space in the Silver Lake Square retail center, located at 6848 N. Government Way, in Dalton Gardens. The store, which has a walk-in cigar humidor, opened in early September with four employees in addition to Meacham.

Meacham says the Lewiston store has operated for nearly nine years at 134 Thain, where six employees work. He adds that both stores sell a large variety of wines and craft beers, as well as cigarettes, pipe tobacco products, and high-end cigars.

—Treva Lind



Architectural concern opens in Liberty Lake



Rex Anderson, of Liberty Lake, has launched his own architectural firm, Fusion Architecture PLLC.

Anderson says he's currently operating from his home with no other employees, and will seek office space as business grows.

Fusion Architecture will focus on residential and commercial designs, he says.

The business currently is working on a couple of commercial remodel projects and has a few more in the wings, he says.

Anderson is a 2002 graduate of the University of Idaho. He says he worked several years for a Seattle firm before returning to the Inland Northwest, where he was with the Spokane-based design firm ALSC Architects PS for two years before setting out on his own.

"I decided I wanted to give a shot at running my own business," he says. "I came up with a logo and identity for the company and put up my own shingle."

Anderson says the name Fusion Architecture represents his approach to bringing together design, engineering, and construction with fiscal and environmental responsibility.

—Mike McLean



Design agency moves into Liberty Building



Studio H Advertising & Design, of Spokane, has moved to a new location on the second floor of the Liberty Building, at 203 N. Washington, downtown.

The company, owned and operated by Hara Allison, is leasing space there from Liberty Building owner Shannon Ahern, Allison says. There were no major remodels done to the space, and it was vacant before Studio H moved in, she says.

Studio H previously was located at 120 N. Stevens, also downtown. Allison says the company completed the move on Oct. 1.

Allison has been in the advertising industry for 25 years, she says, and founded the graphic design and advertising agency in 1991. Clients include Silverwood Theme Park and Triple Play Family Fun Park, both in the Coeur d'Alene area, and national advertising industry publication "Advertising Age," Allison says.

"I do brochures, logos, trade show booths, advertisements, and other graphic design projects," she says.

Currently, Allison is the only employee at the agency, but she says that in the future she would like to expand and add employees.

—Katie Ross



Spice rub business to add more products



Spokane spice rub maker Greg Miley, who sells his products through a company named Greg Miley LLC, says he plans to introduce four new spice rubs next year through the company's website at www.mileybrands.com.

Miley started the business last year and operates it out of his south Spokane home.

Currently, Miley has four products: an all-purpose season rub, a Southwest rub, a steak rub, and a three-pack containing one of each. All the rubs are packaged in 4.5-ounce bottles and have a retail cost of $4.99. The four new rubs, Miley says, will be geared towards poultry and fish.

At present, Miley does all of the preparation and packing of the rubs in his home, but as the company grows he says he would like to find Spokane-area businesses he can contract with to handle those tasks. The packaging that he uses is manufactured in Arlington, Wash., he says. Miley says he hopes to get grocery stores here to stock his products.

Miley says he got the idea for his spice rub business from his previous cooking competition experiences.

"In the early '80s, I was living in Texas and cooking with a barbecue team there, and we did extremely well," Miley says. "As I kept cooking, people kept telling me I needed to sell my rubs."

—Katie Ross