Future Shop Didn’t Let Ice Storm Spoil Its Debut Electronics Retailer Overcomes Obstacles To Open Two Spokane Stores

This week’s ice storm almost stopped Future Shop from stepping into present-day Spokane.

Spokane’s newest electronics giant couldn’t pass building inspections without industrial-strength smoke detectors for its Spokane Valley and Northpointe Plaza stores, which celebrated grand openings Friday.

No smoke detectors could be found in Spokane, so a company employee flew them in from Seattle, arriving just before the airport closed Tuesday.

“It was the last plane they let into Spokane Tuesday night,” said Ross Stevens, a spokesman for the Burnaby, British Columbia-based electronics dealer.

Those troubles didn’t matter on Friday when about 100 people showed up to check out the Sprague and Sullivan store with hopes of winning free compact discs and other prizes.

Zac Field, 14, wandered through the 30,000-square-foot store’s extensive CD section “to see what all they had.”

The music section includes posts where the top 20 hottest CDs are available for listening. Shoppers also can listen to any CD in the store at the “listening bar,” a countertop surrounded by stools.

Other store features include: a wall of 200 televisions; a sound room where shoppers can try out stereos and speakers; rows of fax machines, cameras, calculators and telephones, and full lines of washers, dryers, microwaves, stoves and refrigerators.

Each Spokane store will employ between 40 and 50 people.

About half of the company’s sales comes from its extensive computer section, including computers, printers, and a wide range of software on CD-ROM. The company also grooms future customers with its “Future Generations” section - a group of eight child-sized computer tables with CD-ROM games to play.

“One thing we try to do in our stores in make them as interactive as possible,” Stevens said.

Future Shop will step handily into the gap Smith’s Home Furnishings left in Spokane’s market after going bankrupt last year. The north side Future Shop occupies Smith’s former space, and the Valley store is just across the street from the old Smith’s building.

“There’s not many stores like us here,” Stevens said. “We’re kind of singular to the market.”

That might not last long. Another electronics giant, Richmond, Va.-based Circuit City, has been negotiating for sites in North Spokane and in the Valley. The increased competition will mean good deals for consumers.

Future Shop was founded in 1982 and has become Canada’s largest electronics dealer. The company employs 5,200 people at 100 stores in Canada and the United States.

, DataTimes