Japan remains a place of opportunity for businesses in Spokane and Washington state, despite being entrenched in the worst recession in its history and having a lingering reputation for resisting imports, says Thomas Foley, U.S. ambassador to Japan

Seattle-based Food Services of America has started a $3 million expansion at its Spokane distribution center at 3520 E. Francis.Lydig Construction Inc., of Spokane, is building the 33,000-square-foot addition to the food distributors facility,

Best Buy Co. Inc., a Minneapolis-based electronics retailer with 312 stores nationwide, is interested in opening stores here eventually, a spokesperson for that company says. When it would land here, however, still hasnt been are interested in

Companies affiliated with Metropolitan Mortgage & Securities Co., of Spokane, have quietly loaned the owner of the Davenport Hotel property downtown more than $1.5 million over the last 18 months, Spokane County records show.The affiliate Inc. &

Spokane developer Rob Brewster Jr. is leading a group of investors who are seeking tenants for a proposed 25-story, $35 million-to-$40 million office tower at the corner of Riverside Avenue and Howard Street in downtown Spokane.Two other groups

A tiny Spokane Valley company is providing a unique product to the automotive worldcustom grill and truck medallions and data plates for antique (and sometimes not so antique) vehicles.Owner Jerry Turner says he knows of no other source for as

Pounded by depressed metals prices and the Asian contagion, Spokane industrial manufacturer Rahco International Inc. has suffered substantial hits to both its revenues and employment level in the past 18 months. Down but not out, the longtime in

Now that the Washington Legislature has provided a financing package for a proposed expansion of the city of Spokanes convention facilities, proponents of the project are working feverishly to organize a campaign to win voter approval of the by a

When Potlatch Corp. shareholders convene today for the Spokane-based forest-products companys annual meeting, all eyes will be on the future.And theyre hoping sunglasses will be needed.Potlatch, which employs 6,800 people and has annual a

Group Health Northwest, the Spokane-based health maintenance organization, plans to close its 22-year-old Maple Street clinic by this fall, which would be the second facility it has closed here this year. Theres a lot of history there, the