Spokane Urology opens third office

Spokane Urology PS has leased a 4,500-square-foot office space at 820 S. McClellan, near the Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center & Children's Hospital, for a third location. The new office opened May 3.

Spokane Urology is a group of five urologists specializing in medical and surgical management of urinary tract problems and urological conditions occurring in men, women, and children. The group also has an office at 235 E. Rowan, in the Holy Family Medical Building, and a small satellite office at the Deaconess Medical Building, 801 W. Fifth.

Spokane Urology physicians include David Mikkelsen, Mihai Alexianu, Nick Fairchild, Mike Henneberry, and Trisha Kruger. The office also has a nurse practitioner, Sue Cain.

Stogie film company plans movie in Idaho

Stogie Group International LLC, an independent film company based in Coeur d'Alene, stays it plans to start production of a movie titled "How to Date Beautiful Women" on July 5 in North Idaho, including in Coeur d'Alene and at Carlin Bay. The movie is a comical approach to a dating guide, Stogie CEO Mark Case says.

"How to Date Beautiful Women" will be anchored by two male hosts who interview women for dating advice, Case says. The men's roles will be scripted, but the women's parts will not, he says. Twenty people are expected to be involved in the production.

The direct-to-DVD film, budgeted at about $100,000, initially will be distributed to retail businesses like Walmart and Netflix, Case says, with possible HBO and Showtime deals in the future. Run time for the movie is expected to be one hour and 10 minutes.

Case says he worked in Hollywood for 25 years before relocating Stogie to its current location at 2812 N. 15th. He says he previously worked as a writer, producer, and director for independent ventures, as well as a model maker and special effects crewman. Before becoming involved in the film industry, Case worked as a police officer in Texas.

Stogie employs another partner, Gary Edwards, of Post Falls, and cast and crew members involved in the film are from the Inland Northwest, Case says.

Guppy Tales shop relocates to Garland

Guppy Tales LLC plans to open July 1 at its new location, at 612 W. Garland, on Spokane's North Side. It previously was located at 3803 N. Division.

Tina Hammond, owner and manager of Guppy Tales, says she decided to move the business to a 650-square-foot leased space after starting in a 2,000-square-foot location a year and a half ago. Hammond has owned the shop since she bought it from her sister last year. She previously worked at Gonzaga University as a call center manager.

Hammond says she decided to downsize to a smaller store after buying out her sister so that the fish tanks would be easier for one person to maintain. Within the smaller quarters of the Garland space, Hammond will stop carrying an inventory of display fish tanks and offer them by special order.

She says she'll put more emphasis on freshwater exotic fish, including African and New World cichlids, knifefish, freshwater stingrays, discus, angelfish, ropefish, and brackfish. Guppy Tales will also feature a rotating inventory of community tank favorites, such as gouramis, bettas, rasboras, swordtails, plapies, guppies, and loaches.

Guppy Tales serves more than 1,000 customers in the area, Hammond says. The shop sells freshwater fish, supplies, tanks, and manages special orders. Hammond will also host in-house events, such as children's activities, training, and education programs for the community.

Knee surgeon opens Coeur d'Alene office

Dr. Jeffrey Lyman has opened Lyman Knee Clinic in a 2,500-square-foot medical office at 700 W. Ironwood Drive, in Coeur d'Alene. The orthopedic surgeon says he has been winding down a practice in Scottsdale, Ariz., for several months to prepare for the move back to North Idaho, where he grew up.

Lyman says he practiced for two years in Portland, Ore., and for six years in the greater Phoenix area. He received specialty knee surgery training in Sydney, Australia, and now sees patients of all ages with knee injuries, deformities, and arthritic conditions. He says about 30 percent of his patients come to him from medical referrals, and the other 70 percent from word-of-mouth and Internet searches.

Lyman Knee Clinic employs three to four people initially and will add more as the practice grows, he says.

Thin Technologies relocates to Tapio

NACK Inc., a Spokane company that does business as Thin Technologies, has moved to a 1,000-square-foot leased space in the Blue Flag Building of the Tapio Office Center, at 104 S. Freya.

Katy Brown, co-owner of Thin Technologies, says the business relocated there from a small home office.
Thin Technologies offers data storage and backup, disaster recovery planning, and cloud computing services. The company has done work for the U.S. Senate, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Department of Energy, Chevron, Janus Mutual, and California State University.

Brown and her husband, Nick Brown, started Thin Technologies a year and a half ago. The company employs five people, including the Browns, and works with a handful of contractors, Katy Brown says. They hope to employ 15 people by the end of 2011.

Thin Technologies has made 90 percent of its gross annual income in the last six months, Brown says. The company hopes to become a $1 million-a-year company without taking any loans, she says.

The Browns worked as information-technology consultants before starting Thin Technologies.