Rite Aid relocating to busy intersection

Why would Rite Aid cross the street to move into a new building at the corner of Sprague Avenue and Pines Road in Spokane Valley?

The move – scheduled to happen in several weeks – makes sense, say retail analysts.

If a major drugstore can grab a corner location at a busy city intersection, sales ought to rise 20 percent, according to industry trackers.

That’s the key reason Rite Aid will vacate the site near the Sprague-Pines intersection and move across the street into a new 17,000-square-foot building. The address is 12220 E. Sprague.

The new building, owned and developed by Tom Hamilton with Vandervert Construction as general contractor, should be finished by April 1.

The $2.3 million project will give the drug retailer a smaller but newer building, Hamilton said.

And it will be right on the corner, allowing easier foot and vehicle access.

The current Rite Aid, built in the 1990s, is on Sprague about 500 feet west of Pines. The new store is on the southwest corner of the intersection.

Hamilton has spent dozens of years in the retail business, owning the defunct Premier Video stores and several Pilgrim’s Health Food outlets. He abandoned retail a few years ago and now develops commercial sites.

His first project was a Walgreen’s in Liberty Lake.

Wireless phone store opens in downtown Spokane

Express Locations has opened a T-Mobile wireless store at 702 W. Main Ave. in downtown Spokane. The store occupies the bottom level of the former location of Paper Garden.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Express Locations operates 65 retail cell phone stores in Arizona, Utah, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, New Mexico, Texas and Oregon.

Urban Canine adds Newport Highway shop

The Urban Canine dog accessories shop is adding a Newport Highway location, said owner Deborah Olmsted.

Its South Hill location, at 1220 S. Grand Blvd., has been open more than seven years.

Olmsted will open a second shop at 9222 N. Newport Highway, near the Home Depot.

The new location will have 1,700 square feet. “Sniffing” hours have not yet been set, but it will operate daily except Wednesday, Olmsted said.

The South Hill doggie boutique is open daily except Sunday.