Home Depot Seeks Self-Service Site

In an effort to gain visibility for its new store in the Spokane Valley, Home Depot USA is trying to acquire the site on East Sprague Avenue now occupied by Self-Service Furniture.

If the deal works out, Home Depot would tear down the building that houses the furniture store. Then, they’d build a new 50,000-square-foot store for Self-Service Furniture next door to the Home Depot store.

“The deal isn’t in ink yet,” said Doug Kays, regional vice president for Virginia-based Heilig-Meyers, which last year acquired the Spokane-based Self-Service Furniture chain. “We’re still in the negotiating stage.

Both parties still have a sincere interest in seeing it happen.”

Home Depot wants to clear the land so its store would gain frontage along Sprague avenue, said Kays.

Self-Service Furniture would relish a new facility in a revitalized retail complex, said Hays, but it would have to take a big cut in size. The furniture store currently operates a 90,000-square-foot facility.

Heilig-Meyers is exploring plans to build a 300,000-square foot distribution center in Spokane to service its 24 stores in the region.

Construction crews are putting the finishing touches on Home Depot’s 106,000-square foot store, at the northwest corner of Sprague Avenue and Fancher Road. It will open in October.

“The building is just about complete, and we’ll start work on the inside next week,” said Amy Friend, spokeswoman for Home Depot. “At the end of the month, we’ll have signs going up.”

The Valley store will feature a 24,000-square-foot garden center. It’s one of two stores planned for the Spokane area. Home Depot plans to build another store on the North Side, starting in November.

About 175 employees will be hired for Home Depot’s Valley store, mostly from the area, Friend said.

She said the Valley was selected as the site of Home Depot’s first Spokane store because of its strong commercial and residential growth.

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