Talking Business: Room for Rocky at Ironwolf Gym

By Dan Daly, Journal Staff Writer | Saturday, March 04, 2006

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If Spandex workout suits and terry cloth headbands are not your style, Matt DeWolfe has a back room just for you.

On Wednesday, he opened Ironwolf Gym, 1241 E. St. Joseph St.

The building, south of the corner of St. Patrick and St. Joseph streets, was a nightclub several years ago. In recent years, it was almost Fizzkids, and for a while, it was almost a restaurant.

Ironwolf is a big building. It covers 4,000 square feet and has three rooms. Two of them have undergone serious remodeling.

One room is more of a traditional fitness center. It has treadmills and weight training equipment - about $45,000 worth of equipment, in fact.

The second room has padded mats on the floor. That's where DeWolfe, Byron Roach, Tony Kelly and other staffers will be teaching a variety of martial arts classes.

But the back room looks like a place where Rocky Balboa would feel at home. This room looks a bit like the old-style boxing gym. It's a little grungy. It's equipped with a 20-foot boxing ring and five punching bags.

"I wanted to create an atmosphere ... that's sort of like a 'Rocky Gym,'" he said.

In a way, DeWolfe grew up in the gym business. His mother, Nicky Spencer, has owned and operated Spa 80 for Women for the past 26 years.

Now 23, DeWolfe played football in high school. At 17, he developed an interest in mixed martial arts. He fought bouts in Denver and won some championships in his weight class.

An Ironwolf membership costs $250 a year, or $25 a month. Hours are 5 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturdays and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sundays.

For more information, call 718-8889.

Newspaper opens center and gift shop

The Dakota/Lakota Journal, owned and operated by the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, has opened Our Nations Center and Gift Shop at 627 Main St. in downtown Rapid City.

The downtown storefront, formerly Golf Etc., will house the Lakota Journal offices. It also provides an outlet for American Indian artisans and a venue to publicize American Indian issues.

You can stop in and see the new office today and Friday. The newspaper staff is hosting an open house today and Friday, from 10:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Buffalo stew, fry bread and wojapi will be served today at noon.

Okiciyapi Drum will provide the opening honor song and be available both days to perform powwow songs and other traditional songs. In addition, Butch Felix, a Santee singer and guitarist also known as Eyapaha and Pow Wow MC, will perform both days.

On the visual-arts side, work from Northern Plains contemporary artists such as Yankton Sioux Tribe member Russell Cournoyer, Oglala Mitch Zephier and Hunkpapa Del Iron Cloud will be on display.

Various tribal, business, city, state and federal officials have been invited to the open house.

For more information, call 399-1999.

Don's Valley Market has company

Don's Valley Market, the new independent supermarket that opened at the corner of Homestead Street and Elk Vale Road, is not the only new business in the building.

Jo Prang, a pharmacist and Medicap Pharmacies franchisee, has opened her fourth Rapid City area location inside Don's Valley Market.

The new pharmacy is at the south end of the supermarket. It has its own outside entrance, and you can enter from inside the supermarket. The pharmacy manager at the Rapid Valley Medicap is pharmacist Tara Butler.

Medicap is a national franchise chain. Prang brought the name to Rapid City when she opened her first Medicap on Jackson Boulevard. She has added a stand-alone pharmacy at St. Patrick and Fifth streets in Rapid City and one inside Haggar's Grocery in Black Hawk.

Meanwhile, Rapid City's seventh Happy Jack's Casino has opened its door in a corner of the Don's Valley Market building.

Happy Jack's is owned by South Dakota Vending. "I think it's lucky number seven," South Dakota Vending's Pam LaCroix said.

The casino is in the southeast corner of the Don's building. It has a separate entrance.

Tender Heart Designs tends to parties

Tender Heart Designs is a new wedding- and party-supply business at 1012 E. North St., Suite D. It's across the street from Kmart.

The owner is Randi Lemke. She's keeping her day job in the transcription department at Rapid City Medical Center. But she has always had a love for decorating, for weddings and for special parties.

That's why she started Tender Hearts. It sells items such as cake toppers, unity candles, wedding bells, streamers, balloons, table covers, invitations and programs for events such as weddings, baby showers, birthdays and anniversaries.

Hours are 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sundays.

For more information, call 721-9588.

Family moves businesses to Haines

When a family moves, it can be complicated. When a business moves, it's definitely complicated. When a family moves three of its businesses - actually 2-1/2 businesses - it can be downright confusing.

Here goes:

The Darling family bought the property at 2740 Haines Ave. Then, Steve Darling moved his firm, Plumbing Design & Installation. PDI is a plumbing contractor that specializes in commercial and high-end residential plumbing.

At the same time, his wife, Judy Darling, moved her Straight Shooter Advertising Agency in, too. Straight Shooter began on Haines Avenue, in a corner of the Western Way-Work Warehouse store at the Haines Station Shopping Center, and then was a home-based business until the move.

Their son, Steve Darling Jr., moved part of his Kustomz Truck & Auto into 2740 Haines Ave. He sells used cars and trucks, as well as mini-choppers and pocket bikes. Kustomz Truck & Auto also does auto body work, custom painting and graphics, but that part of the business stayed at 3152 Haines Ave.

For more information, call Straight Shooters at 348-4229, Plumbing Design & Installation at 787-PIPE or Kustomz Truck & Auto at 787-7135.

Floral shop gets a new owner

Forget-Me-Not Floral, formerly Betty's Flowers and Candy Too at 517 Sixth St., has a new owner.

Sharon Faiman, former florist at Family Thrift Center, recently bought the business and changed its name.

Forget-Me-Not shares a doorway with the Bag Ladies retail store. Faiman carries flowers plants, silks, candies, chocolates and gifts. She hopes to add gift items from Enesco (maker of Precious Moments figurines, among other things).

Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. For more information, call 343-7882.

Talking Business appears Thursdays in the Journal. Contact Dan Daly by telephone (394-8421), by fax (394-8463) or by e-mail (dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com).