Postal Service Picks Schreiber Way Site For New Coeur D’Alene Depot

After exploring several site possibilities, the post office will build a new truck depot on two acres behind the new Forest Service complex in Commerce Park in Coeur d’Alene.

The 88,862-square-foot facility will be on the east side of Schreiber Way off Kathleen Avenue near Ramsey Road. About 75 of the city’s 87 Postal Service employees will work at the new depot, which primarily will become the service center for letter carriers.

The city’s main retail and customer service center will remain at its Seventh Street building. Other customer centers are at Rosauers on Appleway and Simon’s Hardware on Fourth Street.

Postmaster Ron Carroll said he hopes the new depot will be complete in early fall so at least the existing loading area behind the Seventh Street building can be used for customer parking during the 1996 holiday rush.

This building now has seven parking spaces on the east side. The west side would provide 20 more customer spaces.

Eventually the Seventh Street building will be remodeled so the entry will face either Lakeside Avenue or the west parking area. It will become a retail store, where customers can select their own stamps and other products from counters or wall racks. Carroll said shoplifting isn’t a major concern because it would be a federal offense.

Post office boxes and bulk mailing will remain at the Seventh Street building.

The new depot site offers the facility plenty of room for growth. Many speculators thought property at Third and Hattie would be selected, but growth would have been limited. The parcel, along with others at that end of Third Street, was rezoned to commercial status last week.

It might have been nice if the post office had selected a building that currently is vacant. I guess that never happens.

Once again hydroplane comments raised responses from several readers.

One mentioned that I was in error that the riot in 1968 was partially due to the drinking age being 19 and Coeur d’Alene not having an open-container law. I got the information from a Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce packet (addressing areas of concern) that will be the basis of the presentation to the Coeur d’Alene City Council at a public hearing Monday, Jan. 29.

The caller is right; the information is wrong. Tuesday a Idaho Alcohol Beverage Control office spokeswoman said the drinking age was then 20, and a Coeur d’Alene City Clerk’s office researcher said there indeed was an open-container law.

Aaagh. The Chamber’s “concern” packet is wrong, and I was wrong to present it without verifying it.

A second caller wondered about the Chamber’s “expert” who said Tubbs Hill wouldn’t be harmed by the hordes. He said usually an “expert” reports finding what he thinks his customer wants to hear. Good point.

A third reader wrote that traffic and parking aren’t being considered, especially as they affect Fort Grounds residents. The hydro folks, however, say they are considering “remote” parking and free busing. The Fort Grounds residents suffer during several public events, but a three-day ordeal is asking too much.

A new type of customer service is offered

by The Diamond Depot, a new full-service jewelry store north on the Plesantview exit in Post Falls.

Owner Dan Clark customers “may buy, sell, exchange, trade up or down” or even borrow against their own jewelry at the new store, located between Toro Viejo restaurant and Western Warehouse at Plesantview Business Center (near McDonald’s and Flying J Travel Plaza).

A Coeur d’Alene native and graduate of the Gemological Institute of America, Clark offers 25 years of experience in buying, selling, appraising and manufacturing jewelry. Co-managers are Scott Fairfull, bringing 15 years of collateralized lending experience from Missoula, and Elke Thiele, a North Idaho retail jeweler for 17 years.

Diamond Depot’s grand opening will be Jan. 19 and 20. Open hours are 10 to 6 Monday through Saturday. Clark also owns Clark’s Jewelry in downtown Coeur d’Alene.

The fourth outlet of Spokandy, an 83-year-old Spokane-based candy company, is now on the east side of Albertson’s Ironwood Drive mall in Coeur d’Alene.

Owned by Todd Davis and his father Tom Davis, the store offers specialty chocolates and mints, with custom personalized and corporate work available. The company began as Riley’s Candies in 1913 and changed to Spokandy in the early 1950s.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Nils Rosdahl The Spokesman-Review