Entrepreneur Steve Danzig didnt need much time to mull it over when the owners of a North Side custom-apparel shop asked him two years ago whether he might like to buy the business.I said absolutely not, he recalls.Danzigs attitude

Paul Fish, president of Spokane-based recreational-equipment retailer Mountain Gear Inc., has bought a 160,000-square-foot complex in Spokane Valley and plans to move the companys offices and warehouse operations there next year. Mountain in

Demand for commercial loans has been higher this year than for several years, but rising interest rates could dampen business growth in 2006, bankers here say.A strong local economy and improved credit quality have contributed to growth in this

Employment in Spokane County has been growing much more rapidly this year than the forecasters had predicted, leading them to believe the region is nearing full employment and small businesses to wonder how theyre going to fill openings.Job 3

The Spokane office of Thomas, Dean & Hoskins Inc., a Great Falls, Mont.-based engineering firm, has been rustling up business across Eastern Washington, and especially in more rural areas. Currently, the firm has 87 projects under way, the most

Expo at Post Falls, the big, multi-use development thats been on and off the radar screen for more than a decade, is seeing a surge of activity that includes nearly a dozen new buildings with a combined value of $8.3 million.One building has

Lydig Construction Inc., of Spokane, has landed a $46 million project to build a new school in Everett, Wash., for the Lake Stevens School District.Joe Williams, a project manager here for Lydig, says work on the project is expected to start be

Mailstream USA Inc. was a direct-mail marketing company that dabbled in the fulfillment business until one day four years ago when a Spokane man let his fingers do the walking. At that time, says company CEO Allan McEachern, Mailstream was the

Spokane-based Fast Way Freight System Inc. has increased its sales every year since Jeff Bosma and a former partner bought the company and renamed it in 1993, but a second company created by Bosma and two others in 2001, called Fast Way Transport a

The Pizza Pipeline Inc., a Spokane-based company thats been expanding here and elsewhere in the country for nearly 20 years, not including a temporary downturn after 9/11, is eyeing more stores here.A franchisee in Missouri opened the newest