New, Improved Corner Needs Convenience, Charm

For five years now I have been passing this well-known Valley fixture at least a dozen times a day. And I have watched as slowly but surely, Argonne Village has become the “All Gone Village” as, tenant by tenant, its buildings empty out.

Now I have read that the wrecking ball is soon to arrive and smash the village, with its bright green rooftops, into oblivion.

The good news is that a new Argonne Village will soon be born. And, we can hope, residents of the west Valley will then have a viable retail shopping center, like the ones that our neighbors to the east have been enjoying with the development of Sullivan Road.

When our family first arrived in the Spokane Valley in the summer of 1994, Argonne Village was a convenient little stop in the road - a place to get film developed (at Super Save Drugs) or take dry cleaning (Spots), buy a 99-cent pair of mittens for our first-grade daughter (being from California, we had no idea how many pairs of mittens a kid can go through during one winter!), or purchase a bag of pet food at Pet City.

As Argonne Village disappeared, so did those small conveniences. Now it is a 20-minute jaunt to the east end of the Valley for a bag of dog food!

So this morning on my way to Evergreen and Sprague for a computer printer cartridge, I decided to start my own personal wish list for the all-new Argonne Village.

I wish for a nice, large discount pet store where we can purchase dog and cat food in the same zip code where we live.

And I would love for an office supply place to locate in the new Argonne Village, because my husband and I, busy as we are, always seem to let our printer cartridges run completely dry during an important project.

Next I wish for a restaurant. The residents of the west Valley like to have some variety in places to dine out. Marie Callender’s and the Longhorn are fabulous, but they are almost the only sit-down eateries within miles.

A discount variety retail store would be nice, too. I won’t name names because of recent controversies on this subject, in other areas of Spokane! But it would be so convenient to be able to run down Argonne instead of having to hop on the freeway, or go all the way down to Sprague to purchase a shower curtain liner.

Of course my favorite dry cleaner, Spots, should stay in place in the new Argonne Village.

They have remained steadfast in their location at the southeast corner, while road construction, demolition and the general exodus of businesses was happening all around them.

Lastly, I would wish for the new shopping center to be named something closely resembling Argonne Village - perhaps Argonne Square to indicate newness, while not completely divesting itself of the old identity.

Of course, as with any new development, there will be traffic woes.

After several decades of bearing with the gridlock caused by the passing trains, most people who use Argonne Road on a daily basis have become immune. (Haven’t we?) And with the completion of the Argonne underpass, traffic on Argonne is becoming almost legendary.

The fact remains. No matter what its impact on traffic, the new and improved Argonne Village (or whatever they decide to name it) will have a positive impact on the west Valley community.

The new retail center will put Argonne Road on the map as a destination for shoppers, and not just as a long road for big trucks.

When the demolition of the old Argonne Village begins, I will be one of the Valley resident anxiously watching the progress, as a sprawling group of vacant buildings turns into a new and vibrant retail center.

In a way, it will be like the phoenix rising from the ashes, as Argonne Village once again becomes an important part of the community, and something that Valley residents can be proud of for many years to come.

I have the feeling that a new Argonne Village has been on the collective wish list of the folks in the west Valley for a long, long time.