Then and Now: W.T. Grant Co.

W.T. Grant opened two stores in Spokane within six months of each other in the 1950s. The department store billed itself as "4-stores-in-one," offering clothing, dry goods, home hardware and variety items.

Section:Gallery

Mon., Dec. 7, 2020

1956: The W.T. Grant Co. department store opened in a new building at Riverside and Post in September 1954. A store at Northtown shopping center opened several months later. The store was decidedly middle class, with a focus on value, but with a wide-ranging inventory, from clothing to hardware, housewares and personal items. Spokane’s downtown J.C. Penney store, which had moved to Main Avenue, held this spot before Grant arrived. The downtown store had three floors and a 53-seat lunch counter. This store closed in 1965, but the company kept a larger store at Northtown shopping center until the company declared bankruptcy in 1975.

The Spokesman-Review Photo Archive
Present day: Banner Bank sits at the corner of Riverside and Post where the W.T. Grant Co. department store was located from 1954 to 1965. The value-focused retailer grew rapidly since its 1906 founding, but didn’t show up in Spokane until 1954. A second store opened at Northtown shopping center in 1955 and closed shortly after the company declared bankruptcy in 1975. Another up-and-coming retailer, J.C. Penney, preceded Grant’s at this corner and had moved around to Main Avenue and a larger building.

Jesse Tinsley The Spokesman-Review Buy this photo