Spokane Firms Make Top 150 List

Fourteen Spokane-area companies are among the 150 largest private enterprises in the state of Washington, according to the May issue of Washington CEO magazine.

The list is prepared by the Arthur Andersen accounting firm in a venture co-sponsored by the magazine and U.S. Bank of Washington. Nine-hundred companies were surveyed as part of the information-gathering effort.

To be included, companies must employ 25. If companies did not respond, information was gathered from other sources.

The local list was again led by URM Stores Inc., with sales estimated between $400 million and $500 million. The grocery wholesaler, which employs 700, was ranked 7th, down a notch from last year.

Three retail grocers follow URM on the list.

With $200 million to $225 million in sales, Tidyman’s Inc. was ranked 24th, a drop from 15th in 1993. Rosauers also slipped, to 31st from 27th, based on estimated sales of $170 million to $200 million.

Yoke’s Washington Foods Inc. was 76th, down from 66th, with sales between $85 million and $90 million.

All three companies are employee-owned.

Inching up three notches from 1993 was CPM Development Co., the cement and aggregate producer. With sales somewhere between $130 million and $150 million, CPM was ranked 42nd in the state.

The other companies included in the rankings are:

Wendle Motors and Camp Automotive, 58th and 81st respectively, the same as in 1993. Wendle sales were estimated at $10 million to $110 million, Camp’s at $0 million to $85 million.

Vaagen Bros. Lumber, the Colville-based timber company, placed 70th with sales between $90 million and $100 million.

Jensen-Byrd - recently renamed Jensen Distribution Services Inc. - was 75th with sales in the same range.

Goodale & Barbieri Co., new to the list at 89th, with sales of $75 million to $80 million.

Lydig Construction Inc., 108th. Ranked 90th last year, the company’s revenues are pegged between $65 million and $70 million.

Cowles Publishing Co. at 103rd, down from 86th. Cowles, publisher of The Spokesman-Review, does not respond to the Andersen survey. Revenues are estimated at $40 million to $60 million.

EZ Loader Boat Trailer, on the survey at 140th with sales between $45 million and $50 million. The company was not on the survey last year.

Self-Service Furniture Inc. was 143rd, up from 150th in 1993. Revenues were $45 million to $50 million.

Dropping off the list since last year were Impact Telecommunications Inc., acquired last July by LDDS Communications Inc., and N.A. Degerstrom Inc., the mining and road-construction company.

The largest private company in the state was Associated Grocers Inc., the Seattle-based wholesaler with more than $1.1 billion in sales.

Altogether, the 150 private firms generated sales of $22 billion, a 15 percent increase over 1993. The total represents about 20 percent of Washington’s gross state product - the value of all goods and services.