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Idaho town weathers loss of Coldwater Creek

Company's former workers stay, start or join new firms

The Columbian
Published: January 4, 2015, 4:00pm

SANDPOINT, Idaho (AP) — The bankruptcy of national clothing retailer Coldwater Creek last spring posed a serious challenge to the northern Idaho city of Sandpoint, as more than 300 jobs vanished.

But the community is getting a second wind — thanks in part to former workers at the company’s headquarters who stuck around and started or joined new firms, The Spokesman-Review reported Sunday.

They include Carlo Pati and Kara Berlin, who have contributed to the rapid growth of the outdoor adventure company Rush-On, and Matt Williams and Mike Peck, who founded a business that provides wood and metal shops, a laser cutter and a 3-D printer for artists and entrepreneurs who need them.

Many say they love their lifestyle in Sandpoint, a recreation mecca on Lake Pend Oreille, and didn’t want to leave when Coldwater Creek went belly up.

“There’s definitely something very special about Sandpoint that there’s this group of us that wanted to stay and make it work,” said Jennifer Pratt, a former Coldwater employee who converted a delivery truck into a mobile florist business.

Launched as a catalog-based marketer in 1984, Coldwater ballooned to nearly 6,000 employees in more than 300 stores, about 30 factory outlets and seven day spas. About 120 employees earned $75,000 and up, according to the Idaho Department of Labor.

But years of lagging sales and more than $360 million in debt led it to declare bankruptcy last April.

Sandpoint officials say the loss of Coldwater Creek — Bonner County’s largest private employer — still hurts. But they’re upbeat about a wave of hiring in aerospace, biomedical, software, food production and manufacturing.

“We’re seeing the opportunity to really write our next chapter,” said Jeremy Grimm, the city’s director of planning and community development. “And I think it’s ours to build on these industries that have really defined their place in the markets.”

Coldwater Creek’s downtown Sandpoint store is empty; the company name remains on the building. Tina Ward, formerly a senior merchant at Coldwater, used to fill stores like that one; now, she is enjoying retail on a smaller scale. She owns a kitchen supplies store called Weekends & Company.

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