Addition Of Retail Stores Keeps Shoppers In The Valley

Patrica Fluno says she’d rather drive to Coeur d’Alene to shop than battle the crowds at the North Side malls.

So she’s pleased that several major retailers have opened second Spokane stores in the Valley. Within the past year or so, Fred Meyer, Smith’s Home Furnishings, Target and Eagle Hardware & Garden all have expanded their local operations here.

“I think it’s fantastic to get some decent stores out here,” said Fluno, a lifelong Valley resident.

She said that she didn’t shop at Eagle Hardware until the store at E5204 Sprague arrived.

“We waited for this one to open,” she said. “Now we’re here all the time.”

She and other Valley shoppers said that they didn’t have to drive downtown or to the North Side this year to get their Christmas shopping done.

Soon after the new Fred Meyer at Sprague and Sullivan opened in November 1993, other stores started popping up along or near Sprague.

In May, Smith’s opened next to the new Fred Meyer and Target opened at Sprague and Evergreen. Eagle Hardware opened in August.

The new stores underscore what everyone knows - that population is growing and the Valley is maturing and developing.

So far, it seems that the Valley’s customer base is large enough to support these new stores without threatening competitors.

Fred Meyer unveiled its remodeled North Side store on Francis Avenue at the same time its Valley store opened. Both now have large grocery departments.

“Sales are light years beyond what we had when we had those stores without food,” said Rob Boley, a Fred Meyer spokesman.

“We’re very pleased with the progress that has been made on our new store and the increase in business at our store on Francis,” he said.

Sales at the second Target have apparently hit their mark, according to Target spokeswoman Carolyn Brookter.

“So far, it’s been very profitable for us,” she said. “It’s met our projections.”

The newer Eagle Hardware & Garden is “pretty well on course,” said Robert Cleveland, the company’s vice president of marketing.

Smith’s president, Glen Grodem, did not return phone calls.

Steve Baker, Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce president, said, “These stores are looking 10 to 15 years down the road for potential growth.

“They’re obviously thinking that the Valley is going to grow consistently.”

“If you’re extremely successful and your parking lot is frequently too full, you feel the need that you should have another outlet,” Cleveland said of Eagle Hardware.

The Eagle Hardware store in the Valley also serves the South Hill, he said. Shoppers “don’t want to drive up North Division if they can help it,” he said.

The Valley is a “decent market by itself, bolstered by people that come in from North Idaho,” he said.

And, barring new limits resulting from the state Growth Management Act, the Valley is still growing.

“We would expect the (Fred Meyer) store to continue to see its sales grow in the Sullivan area as the population increases,” Boley said.

Most of the new Valley stores are far enough from the original store sites that shoppers don’t stop going to one to go to the other.

However, Cleveland said, “You always cannibalize the first store a little bit.”

Target shopper Lisa Clarizio said that she never made the trip to the Target store at Northpointe on the city’s far North Side. “When they’re convenient, you go,” she said. “If you don’t have to, why would you go that distance?”

Fred Meyer and Target spokespeople said that they will carefully watch the Spokane market, but no specific plans have been made for further expansion.

Cleveland said that two Eagle stores are probably sufficient for this market.

These stores are enough to make shoppers such as Fluno happy. When asked, Fluno couldn’t name another major retailer that she wishes would open a new store in the Valley.