The Business Of Growth Chamber Of Commerce In Fast-Growing Post Falls Hits The 400 Membership Mark
This town may always be known as a bedroom community to Spokane and Coeur d’Alene.
But the image is getting less and less appropriate, considering the influx of businesses landing in Post Falls.
“When you live in Post Falls, you realize there are a lot of holes in the market … businesses and services that aren’t established,” said Susan Vrbas, a Denver emigrant who recently opened an antique and arts shop, The Cabbage Rose. “People are going to come and start filling those holes.”
By most measures, those holes are disappearing rapidly.
Storefronts seemingly pop up overnight, especially east of town along Seltice Way.
This week, the Chamber of Commerce marks an achievement that not long ago seemed impossible for a city without a distinct business district. The Chamber membership roster has hit the 400 mark. That’s triple the number of members just five years ago.
Post Falls’ chamber had less than 50 members just 10 years ago. Back then, only 18 people showed up at the annual chamber banquet, held at a local pub. In fact, Post Falls in the last decade has held its membership bashes in Coeur d’Alene and at a former steakhouse in Huetter, because at the time “there wasn’t a place in town that could hold more than 20 people,” says Jim Dickinson, a local insurance agent and two-time chamber president.
Saturday night, several hundred people are expected to attend this year’s chamber banquet - a $35 per plate affair at Templin’s Resort and Conference Center.
“I don’t know when we’ll outgrow this ‘bedroom community’ thing … it’s sort of a life-long dream,” Dickinson said. “But, then, a lot of people think we’re already there.”
Post Falls’ business growth is often related to the big fish in its relatively small economic pool - the arrival of the popular factory outlet mall, furniture maker Harpers Inc., or sawmills that once dominated the job base.
But the town’s bread and butter businesses are not major employers. Post Falls has become a haven for entrepreneurs and small business owners. The chamber membership rolls have swelled almost solely because of one- or two-person operations.
Today, three of every four Chamber of Commerce memberships is an owner-operated business, according to chamber manager Kimberly Rice Brown.
Vrbas, for example, chose to locate in Post Falls because its business community is still so small that her shop can operate free of local competition.
At least for now.
Brown said chamber growth has not tapered off. In fact, the organization is about to double the size of its office on Sixth Avenue.
“I looked around the Northwest and decided to settle here,” Vrbas said. “I think people are starting to realize that there is tremendous opportunity here.”