Tracy Jewelers plans ownership transition

Maureen Tracy, owner of Spokane Valley-based Tracy Jewelers says employee Glen Brown will take over daily operations of the business on May 1 and will train with Tracy for four years, after which she plans to sell the business to Brown.

Brown has worked for 10 years at Tracy Jewelers, which is located at 106 N. Evergreen. He has 20 years of experience in the jewelry industry and will continue his gemology studies while working with Tracy to prepare for the transition. The business has seven employees, including Brown.

Tracy bought the business in 1994 from her brother, Leo Tracy, who had purchased it from their parents in 1975. She says their father, Patrick Tracy, started Tracy Jewelers in Spokane Valley in 1950.

Tracy says Brown plans to keep the same business name and business model. The shop primarily sells wedding ring sets, anniversary rings, diamond earrings, and other gem and fashion jewelry.

"We do a lot of appraisals as well," she says.

—Treva Lind

Cd'A entrepreneur offers no-slip service

David McCullough, of Coeur d'Alene, has launched Friction Technologies LLC, a company that specializes in chemically treating tile, concrete, porcelain, and enamel floors and surfaces to make them nonslippery, even when wet, without changing their appearance.

Friction Technologies, currently a one-man operation, is located at 3833 W. Industrial Loop, in the Coeur d'Alene Industrial Park, where McCullough also owns and operates Catalyst Industries, a 20-year-old auto body and painting products manufacturer.

Friction Technologies is a licensed provider of the new treatment technology for the Inland Northwest. Its treatments bring commercial floors to within federal occupational and disability guidelines for protection of workers and the public from slip-and-fall accidents, McCullough claims.

The treatments also are effective in reducing injury hazards for residential floors, pool decks, and bathtubs, McCullough says. Bathtub treatments, for instance, typically cost $50 and last for more than 10 years, he says.

Friction Technologies also offers separate coating treatments for wood and other surfaces, McCullough says.

—Mike McLean

Bar, grill launches east of Ruby Street

J2 Investments Inc., a company owned by husband-and-wife team Jay and Joanna Tucker, has launched Rumrunners Bar & Grill just east of Ruby Street on Spokane's North Side.

The Tuckers say they opened the 69-seat neighborhood bar in February, taking over the lease of a 3,000-square-foot building at 2436 N. Astor, where a bar called Backroads had operated previously. Backroads closed Feb. 1, Jay Tucker says.

Rumrunners employs five people, including the owners.

Tucker says Rumrunners is offering menu items with fresh ingredients grown in the Northwest. Among its menu items, the bar and grill features chicken, burgers, and fries. Tucker says the bar also has multiple televisions, pool tables, and dart games.

He says Rumrunners is working with promoters of the Spokane Shock arena football team to offer specials on burgers and drinks for what is called the Shock Bus, which will provide rides for patrons between Rumrunners and the games.

—Treva Lind

Valley Ship It Now sets up mailing outlet

Paul Neustrom has opened Valley Ship It Now, an alternative shipping site to U.S. Postal Service offices.

The store is located at 12510 E. Sprague Ave., just east of Pines Road, where it occupies 700 square feet of leased space.

Valley Ship It Now is a full-service FedEx shipping center and an approved shipper for United Parcel Service and USPS, Neustrom says.

He says the store specializes in custom packing. The store also offers mailbox rentals and fax and copying services.

Neustrom, who says he has 30 years of experience with private-shipping outlets in North Idaho and Tennessee, is a returning resident to Spokane Valley. Valley Ship It Now currently has no other employees.

The shop is open during business hours on weekdays, and Neustrom says he plans to open on Saturdays if the U.S. Postal Service halts Saturday mail-carrier service as it has proposed to do in August.

—Mike McLean

General Store owner to open Ace in Valley

Longtime Spokane hardware retailer Bruce Barany has formed Argonne Hardware LLC to open Argonne Ace Hardware in Spokane Valley in early May, says Jon Evans, who will be general manager of the new store.

The new franchise store, to be located in the former Spear's Furniture building at 1330 N. Argonne, will occupy about 11,000 square feet of leased space, Evans says. He estimates the entire building, which has three additional units marketed for lease, has about 20,000 square feet of floor space.

"We've never had a store this small," Evans says, adding the 67-year-old General Store that Barany owns and operates at 2424 N. Division is in a 42,000-square-foot building.

The Valley store will sell paint, garden, lawn, and hardware products, and will have 10 full-time employees, he says.

He says the building was rebuilt after its roof collapsed about five years ago.

Headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill., Ace Hardware has more than 4,600 franchised home-improvement stores around the world, including 12 in the Inland Northwest.

—Jessica Valencia