Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Home Depot Opens

Spokane Valley do-it-yourselfers have one more place to hunt down hammers, saws, lumber and lighting fixtures.

Home Depot, the nation’s largest home-improvement retailer, opened its new 130,000-square foot Valley store at Sprague and Fancher on Thursday.

It may be the newest, but Home Depot is hardly the only home-improvement store in the Valley. It joins Eagle Hardware and Garden, Valley Best-Way, Home Base, Ziggy’s and others in the increasingly crowded Valley market.

But that’s good news to handymen like Frans Gustafson.

“I’m just in dreamland,” said the Valley resident, who was inspecting Home Depot’s aisles on opening day.

The retired auto and airplane mechanic, who said he already owns thousands of dollars worth of tools, said he hopes the competition will bring prices down.

Valley resident Gloria Hawkins, who was shopping at Eagle on Thursday, said Home Depot’s opening is not just good for consumers, but good for the community as a whole.

“I think it’s needed,” said the Chester Hills resident. “The diversity is great. And it employs more people. People have to earn a living, and I think these things are necessary for growth of the community.”

Home Depot, employs 150 people at its Valley store, including 110 newly hired here, store manager Tom Raynor said. The other 40 relocated from other stores within the company.

Raynor said he expects business will require him to hire more.

“My gut feeling is that we will be hiring immediately after opening,” he said.

Gary Peters, owner of Peters Hardware on Sprague Avenue, said business at his store was about the same on Thursday as any other weekday.

He’s not expecting any big changes as a result of Home Depot’s opening.

“When Eagle opened up, we converted our store to everyday low pricing,” Peters said. “I’m not expecting any surprises.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Photo