The new Scheels All Sports is on track for opening June 30, store manager Dennis Bense said.

The company is in the process of renovating the old, 100,000-square-foot space that Target recently vacated in Kirkwood Mall. The new space is about four times that of Scheels' current space.

Bense said the store also plans to keep its bike shop separate and in its current location, which is just outside of the new space.

Two new stores for Pinehurst Square Shopping Center popped up in building permits last week, too.

According to the permit reports, Pinehurst won the small fight with Gateway Mall for Tuesday Morning, a reduced-price home goods store.

The store will be 6,000 square feet, with construction set to be complete by April 1, said Jon Conklin, with Northwest Contracting.

Also, talks of a Shoe Carnival moving to town were confirmed in the permit reports, also confirming that Pinehurst Square is reigning as the retail leasing king of the town.

Shoe Carnival, a shoe retailer that sells brands ranging from Adidas to Donna Lawrence to FUBU, will have a 10,000-square-foot space that will be complete by May 1, Conklin said.

Neither company will confirm official opening dates.

Cowan building sold

Mark and Sue Erickson have bought the Cowan building on Fourth and Broadway, and plan to develop the top four floors into high-end apartments.

The apartments would range from 1,700 square feet to 900 square feet, said Sue Erickson, who plans to cater to the area's doctors and business owners with luxury amenities.

But first, some basics need to be taken care of. Right now, the couple is updating the bridal shop, Bridal and More, which is on the first floor of the building. They're also putting flooring in the other storefront, she said.

The couple is taking bids for the work, and doesn't plan on going foward with renovating the apartment space until fall.

And, if all goes as planned, Erickson said she'd like to have a club-type lounge in the basement of the building. She's still checking with the city to see if that's feasible, she said.

Unemployment rises

Unemployment rates jumped in North Dakota for the month of January, from 3.2 percent in December to 4 percent in January.

The highest rise in the region was Minot, hitting 4.8 percent in January, up 1.2 percentage points from December.

As for the Bismarck region, unemployment was up 1.1 percentage points from December:It was 3.3 percent in December, and 4.4 percent in January.

When compared with last year's numbers, however, all counties are right on track. Bismarck's unemployment rate was at 4.2 percent in January 2006; the state was at an even 4 percent in the same month last year, too.

Michael Ziesch, with Job Service North Dakota, said unemployment will continue to be a little higher than normal during January, February and March.

"It's purely seasonal,"he said, adding that numbers for February will probably be similar to January's.

Ziesch said industries such as construction and manufacturing tend to shed employees in these months, but will pick up again in the late spring and summer months.

Burleigh County's rate was 3.4 percent in January, and Morton County's unemployment hit 4.7 percent.

The lowest unemployment rate in the state was once again Williston at 2.3 percent, and Devils Lake had the highest rate at 6.7 percent.

No county in the state remained the same in unemployment figures or experienced a decrease, according to reports from Job Service North Dakota.

(Reach reporter Crystal R. Reid at 250-8261 or at crystal.reid@;bismarcktribune.com.)