Then and Now: Henry Blakely’s dry goods store

An ambitious businessman named Henry Blakely opened Blakely Dry Goods in Spokane in 1903. It was just one year after James Cash Penney opened his first store in Wyoming.

Blakely came to Spokane after success in the dry goods business in Leadville, Colorado. He told the newspaper that he saw great promise in Spokane, loved the climate and intended to settle here. The Spokane Chronicle wrote, in a complimentary way, “Mr. Blakely seems to be a hustler.” After 11 successful years in other locations, he moved Blakely’s to the three-story building on the northwest corner of Riverside Avenue and Post Street.

Architect and historian Robert Hyslop recalled boyhood memories of the state-of-the-art store, which used a system of baskets on a rope-and-pulley system to move goods between levels. He said the store smelled of cloth and lubricating oil, with a background of clanking machinery. The store’s slogan was “In all Spokane, no other store so good.”

Blakely was a trendsetter in attractive window displays and using regional advertising to draw customers. He advocated for vocational training in schools to prepare young people heading into sales and retail businesses. He also encouraged a higher minimum wage, which was $3 a week at the beginning. Blakely always paid at least $6, and in 1913 he paid all his help at least $9, creating a buzz in the downtown business community.

In 1918, Penney, who was nearing 200 stores nationwide, opened a small store in Hillyard on the outskirts of Spokane. And in 1928, when Blakely wanted to retire to his riverside home in Spokane Valley, Penney bought him out, adding to his chain of more than 1,000 stores. In 1953, it moved to the Palace building, where the River Park Square atrium is today. In 1972, Penney’s took over a blocklong space on the south side of Main Avenue, stretching from Lincoln to Post, and it remained there until it closed in 1991 and opened at NorthTown Mall.

As for Blakely, he ran a wholesale-only business until retiring completely in 1939. He called his home on East Upriver Drive “Mon Reve,” and had created a show garden in which visitors were welcome.

Blakely died in 1943. The estate was subdivided for houses in 1959. Blakely had no heirs and left the bulk of his estate to the Shriners Hospital. At his retirement, he told a reporter, “I have seen lots of changes in my time and traveled much, but Spokane has always been my favorite spot.”