Columbia Paint & Coatings Inc., the Spokane-based manufacturer and retailer of paints and coatings, has opened an outlet in Ellensburg, Wash., giving it 39 stores overall.The store occupies a 6,000-square-foot, leased building at 710 N. in the

Medford, Ore.-based Lithia Motors Inc., which owns Spokanes Camp Automotive Inc., says its in the process of buying land in Liberty Lake possibly to build a new facility for its Mercedes-Benz dealership here.The automobile-dealership chain

Landworks Development Inc., a Spokane Valley development company headed by real estate executive Bryan Walker, is proposing a 369-home subdivision adjacent to the big Northwood neighborhood, overlooking Spokane Valley. The Spokane office of the

The opening of a grocery store downtown, which doesnt have a full-line food store now, would be a boon to residents who live in new and converted multi-occupant buildings, and at least two specialty grocery chains are looking to see whether they

Preliminary discussions have begun about a possible merger of the Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Spokane Area Economic Development Council, the top executives of the two organizations say.The executives, chamber President and CEO

A recent sharp narrowing of the gap in the U.S.-Canadian currency exchange rate has triggered an upswing in Canadian visitors to the Inland Northwest and has boosted expectations of more tourism spending here, economic observers say.The dollar,

New and growing businesses have gobbled up much of the vacant warehouse and industrial space in the Spokane market over the past year, dropping vacancy rates substantially, experts in those markets say. Activity is expected to remain strong at

Retirement planning is especially important for women, who often need to be much more involved in their families financial planning than they are, experts here say.Women live longer than men, earn less money, and receive smaller Social and a

The number of Spokane County residents who are between the ages of 40 and 54 in Spokane County more than doubled between 1980 and 2005, far outdistancing growth in the number of residents in other age brackets, government statistics show. here say

Tri-Cities lab believes its pilot-like mock scenarios could help avoid blackoutsPower-grid operators now have the ability to train like pilots, with simulators that provide faulty readings designed to throw them off. Such misleading data and of