Talbots has not said if the women's retail chain will open another Spokane store. It's closing the 706 W. Main location in River Park Square, due to a lease termination. At this point, Talbots  officials have responded with silence to the question.

So, we now notice the company taking over Talbots' site, at 706 W. Main, is Jos. A Bank Clothiers, Inc., the nationwide clothing retailer. It has its downtown Spokane storeabout one block west of River Park Square. City building permits show a remodeling permit for the Talbots building issued to Jos. A. Bank.

A conversation with some Bank workers produced this explanation -- with the caveat that efforts to get confirmation from the company's main office have not been successful:

For more than a year Jos. A. Bank has disliked being next door to the empty retail site on the corner of Main and Lincoln. The landlord of the Jos. A Bank store (at 811 W. Main) has tried to find a corner tenant without success. That landlord is a subsidiary of the Cowles Co., which publishes The Spokesman-Review.

So Bank Clothiers decided to make the move about two blocks away, in part to be closer to foot traffic, the workers said. It won't hurt that the new Jos. A. Bank store is next to the soon-coming Apple retail store.

ADDITION: It's notable that the two landlords -- RPS, where Talbots is, and Centennial Properties, where Jos. A. Bank is -- are ultimately one and the same company, the Cowles Co.

Jos. A. Bank's real estate office won't even need to change the mailing address where it sends the lease payments.

---

---