Spokane Residents Shopping Less, Dining Out More, Tax Figures Show

Retail trade slipped in metropolitan Spokane in the final quarter of last year, a new report shows.

While the dollar value of transactions during the crucial Christmas sales season rose just under 1 percent, the real volume of trade adjusted for inflation was down 1 or 2 points, according to just-released sales tax figures.

Statistics from the State Department of Revenue show sales of general merchandise declined in both dollar value and inflation-adjusted volume.

Department store sales fell from $94 million to $91 million.

Sales of apparel and accessories dipped from $37 million to $35 million.

The declines followed a quarter of stagnating sales. In the third quarter of the year, the dollar value of total retail trade in metropolitan Spokane roughly kept pace with inflation.

But third-quarter sales also showed small declines both in dollar value and on an adjusted basis.

A bright spot in the Spokane retail picture continues to be dining out. Receipts of eating and drinking establishments in the fourth quarter rose from $80 million to $84 million.

Poll shows strong support for recycling

Nine of 10 Washington residents think there ought to be more recycling, according to a state survey.

The poll was commissioned by a 15-member state task force which spent several months examining the status of recycling in the state.

On the basis of its findings, The Future of Recycling Task Force has called for a renewed focus on conservation of resources, expansion of recycling to include new municipal and industrial wastes, and close collaboration between the public and private sectors in Washington.

Meantime, in the other Washington, the Democrats are accusing the Republican leadership of “neglecting and mismanaging Congress’ recycling program.”

The House Democratic Policy Committee has issued a report showing that recycling of Congress’ aluminum cans has fallen 74 percent since the GOP took over a few years ago.

Glass bottle recycling is down 83 percent.

And, says the report, “Paper separation efforts are in disarray.”

The report blames Newt Gingrich for failing to reappoint a recycling coordinator the Democrats hired when they were in charge “to make sure House offices were recycling properly.”

But in Spokane, recycler Roger Baldwin, a veteran of 26 years in the industry, wonders if some recycling isn’t more trouble than it’s worth - consuming greater energy and resources than it conserves.

And he sees no shortage of recyclers, big or small. They’re all over the landscape, he says.

Baldwin is general manager of American Recycling Corp., which processes thousands of tons of metal a month and is probably the largest recycler of old household appliances in the region.

“Recyclers come in all different sizes,” he says, “from multimillion-dollar operations like we are on down to people who go around in an old beatup truck collecting mufflers at mufflers shops. There’s no shortage of us in the business. Plus the city and county are into curbside recycling, too. Everybody has a finger in it.

“Even so, I suppose all of us in the industry would like to see still more recycling. But at what cost?” he asked. “I don’t mean money cost - but cost to the environment?

“When you have all these curbside trucks circling around - I wonder, are they causing more environmental degradation in terms of the oil, gas, tires, water and pollution involved, than they are saving us?

“It’s a complex issue.

“I sometimes wonder, is the cure worse than the disease?”

Welcome Wagon returns to region

Upwards of 100 field representatives are being hired by Welcome Wagon to greet newcomers to the Inland Northwest.

Margie Keener, field manager in Spokane, said the firm is re-inaugurating service in an area stretching from Missoula to Ellensburg, and from the Canandian border to Lewiston.

Welcome Wagon only recently returned to the Inland Northwest. A previous owner of the company let service lapse in the region, Kenner says.

Now under new ownership, Welcome Wagon is looking to hire immediately between 100 and 200 full-time and part-time representatives in the Spokane region for a “very ambitious expansion.”

Representatives deliver Welcome Wagon’s trademark baskets filled with gifts, information on the local community, and special offers from businesses, to new arrivals, engaged couples, growing families and new U.S. citizens.

While Spokane’s population growth rate may have cooled a bit from the torrid pace of a few years ago, Keener says, North Idaho and Montana continue red hot. “With so many people moving in each month,” she says, “the need for Welcome Wagon has never been greater.”

, DataTimes MEMO: Associate Editor Frank Bartel writes a notes column each Wednesday. If you have business items of regional interest for future columns, call 459-5467 or fax 459-5482.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Frank Bartel The Spokesman-Review