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SOURCE:	Idaho Falls (ID) Post Register
AUDIENCE:	10,985 [provided by Nielsen//NetRatings]
DATE:	08-13-2007
HEADLINE:	SHOPTALK

Source Website

PAUL MENSER

Old Barnes & Noble store has new tenants

Word from the Idaho Falls Building Department is that the old Barnes & Noble Booksellers storefront on 17th Street, vacant since the company's move to the Grand Teton Mall, will be occupied by two Utah-based businesses: MyComfort, a mattress dealer; and Downeast Home, a furniture seller.

Founded in 2006, MyComfort will have 13 stores in Utah, Arizona and Idaho once the store at 2387 E. 17th St. opens. The founders, Tony and Terry Peace, started as partners in EdiZONE, a company dedicated to developing new cushioning and sleep products. Many of the MyComfort stores started as Intelli-Bed stores, which sold Intelli-Gel beds and pillows. Because customers were eager to see Intelli-Gel in products besides beds and pillows, they expanded into MyComfort, which, in addition to mattresses, offers chairs and accessories for traveling.

The company is planning on an opening this month in Idaho Falls.

DownEast has seven stores that specialize in home furnishings, accessories and clothing. The company carries well-known brands at radically marked-down prices, but you won't hear of them in because the company insists there be none.

DownEast has been in business since 1991 and remains family owned and operated.

Potandon breaking ground on building

Potandon Produce will be breaking ground at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday on a new corporate office in the Snake River Landing development.

The largest marketer of fresh potatoes in North America and the exclusive sales agent of Green Giant Fresh potatoes and onions, Potandon has been operating in Idaho Falls since 1995 and employs 75 people.

Mergers with Idaho Fresh Cooperative, High Country Potato and Larsen Farms have strengthened Potandon's position as the national leader in the fresh potato industry. Along with this growth during the past decade has come the need for additional office space.

Matt Morgan Construction will be managing the construction of the new 23,000-square-foot building, at the corner of Snake River Parkway and Pier View Drive.

The anticipated completion date for the building is July 1.

Insurance man marks 50th year

Congratulations this week to Dee Ellis, who celebrated 50 years in the insurance business Sunday.

Ellis hung out his shingle as an agent for Prudential in Idaho Falls on Aug. 12, 1957. He went independent in the 1970s and was joined in the business by his wife, Karalyn (to whom he has been married 561/2 years).

As you might expect, the business has changed dramatically in 50 years. In 1957, health insurance for a family cost $12.50 a month, which included a private hospital bed. In today's dollars, that would be $89.57 (according to my inflation calculator: www.west egg.com/inflation/infl.cgi), a deal I don't think anyone would turn down.

As an agent, "You have to write 100 times more business," Ellis said. "And there are a lot more agents out there."

He credits the loyalty of his longtime customers with keeping him in business, and it's been the association with people he has enjoyed the most.

"You take care of them so they don't have to worry when something happens," he said. "I've paid many claims over the years."

One thing about insurance is that you have to hustle.

"You have to go ask for it," he said. "People don't come to you as a rule."

KIFI-TV gets new general manager

Mark Danielson returns today to KIFI-TV as general manager, replacing Tim Larson, who was recently named general manager of KRDO-TV in Colorado Springs, Colo.

Danielson was KIFI's news director and station manager from 1998 to 2002. Since then, he has directed the news content of the Boise-based KTVB News Group, where he made KTVB-TV one of the most successful local television stations at building an online audience.

Highlights: Green Giant Fresh