Sleep Country moves North Division outlet

Sleep Country USA LLC, a Kent, Wash-based mattress retailer with four stores in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area, moved one of its stores last month to a newly remodeled space on North Division Street.

Mike Estes, Kent, Wash.-based regional vice president for Sleep Country, says the company relocated a store from 4446 N. Division to a block south of there, at 4402 N. Division. The latter location formerly housed a clearance outlet for locally based Walker's Furniture Inc. that ceased operating there years ago.

Sleep Country entered the market here late last year after it acquired the assets of Spokane-based The Mattress Outlet Inc., which had operated a total of 14 stores across Eastern Washington and North Idaho.

Estes says Sleep Country chose to relocate the North Division store to the larger, 5,000-square-foot leased building because it's a better fit for the company's goals. He declines to disclose the cost to remodel the building. The three full-time employees who had staffed the store at its former location all were retained, Estes says.

When Sleep Country took over The Mattress Outlet's stores here, it initially operated three outlets that all were located along North Division. A store near the intersection of Division and Sharp Avenue has since closed, Estes says, because the company wanted to consolidate its operations here to better focus on fewer stores. A store at the southeast corner of the intersection of Division and Francis Avenue remains open, and Sleep Country also has a store in Spokane Valley and one in Coeur d'Alene, he says.

He says the company hasn't ruled out opening more mattress stores here and ideally would like to have an outlet closer to Interstate 90 in the future.

In all, Sleep Country owns 12 stores in the Inland Northwest and a total of 80 stores throughout its market territory, which also includes Western Washington and Oregon.

--Chey Scott

Ferrante's restaurant expands dining area

The owners of Ferrante's Marketplace Cafe, an eight-year-old Italian-inspired eatery on Spokane's South Hill, at 4516 S. Regal, recently completed an expansion of its dining room area to accommodate an increase in demand for more seating during its busiest hours.

John Robideaux, who provides marketing consultation services to the business's owners, Tony and Robbie Ferrante, says that by knocking out a wall in the dining section of the restaurant, the floor space there was expanded by about 300 square feet, boosting it to 1,500 square feet. That allowed for the addition of more tables to bring the inside seating capacity to 60 people.

Robideaux says the work, most of which was handled by the business owners and their family for a total cost of around $15,000, was finished in early June.

By reconfiguring space in the restaurant's kitchen and dining area, Ferrante's also was able to add bar counter seating and five taps, which will feature beers made by Inland Northwest-based breweries, he says.

The restaurant serves lunch and dinner five days a week, and the front of the business's space has about 450 square feet of specialty gift items and jewelry, Robideaux says.

He says business at the restaurant has picked up steadily in recent years, prompting the owners' decision to expand its dining area.

In addition to its food menu, Ferrante's sells 10 rotating flavors of gelato, which is an Italian word for ice cream. Gelato typically has less butterfat and more sugar than ice cream commonly found in the U.S.

--Chey Scott

New fitness studio to open downtown

Daniel and Emily Rogers, of Spokane, plan to open a new fitness studio, called Spokane Barre Studio LLC, at 201 W. Riverside downtown, on Aug. 1.

Emily Rogers says the studio will offer full-body workout classes that use a ballet barre, the handrail on which ballet dancers practice and warm up. Exercises will incorporate moves from yoga, Pilates, and ballet, and are designed to tone and lengthen core muscles in the abdomen, legs, and rear, she says.

The 1,200-square-foot leased space the business will occupy has enough room to accommodate around 16 people per class. Spokane Barre will offer around a half dozen hour-long group fitness classes each day Monday through Saturday, with sessions offered in the early morning, noon, and evening hours.

After working in the fitness industry for more than 10 years as a corporate trainer, Rogers says she decided to start her own fitness-focused business. She says she and her husband moved to Spokane two years ago so he could attend the Gonzaga University School of Law.

Besides Rogers, who will be Spokane Barre's main instructor, the studio likely will employ two part-time fitness instructors, she says.

She says single classes will be offered for $16, or customers can buy a month of unlimited classes for $149. Packages of five and 10 classes also will be offered, she says.

--Chey Scott

Injury assessment firm buys building

Disability Management Consulting Inc., of Spokane Valley, has bought and moved into a building at 510 N. Mullan that Spokane Structures Inc. formerly occupied.

The company bought the about 2,500-square-foot building and moved there from its previous leased location at 421 W. Riverside in downtown Spokane earlier this month, co-owner Matt Nystul says.

The new building has nine offices and didn't need any renovations, he says.

Disability Management Consulting specializes in doing vocational injury assessments for the Washington state Department of Labor & Industries and for self-insured businesses, including Issaquah, Wash.-based Costco Wholesale Corp., various construction companies, and attorneys. Its focus is on helping to get idled employees back to work.

The company has been in business for 10 years and has offices in Seattle, Yakima, Kennewick, and Spokane. Nystul says the company hopes to expand to Moses Lake and Ellensburg in the near future.

In addition to co-owners Nystul and Leslie Weaver, Disability Management currently has 13 employees, nine of whom are in the Spokane office.

Greg Tapley, of Cantu Commercial Properties LLC, handled the transaction.

--Audrey Danals--Chey Scott