Hooters chain options land in Spokane Valley

The Hooters restaurant chain, known for its tight-T-shirt-wearing waitresses, could bust into the Spokane market next year.

HootWINC LLC, an Oceanside, Calif.-based franchisee that operates 20 Hooters restaurants, has an option to buy a piece of land east of Spokane Valley Mall, said Fred Glick, president of the company. Glick said HootWINC is only studying the feasibility of operating a restaurant there, though, and its plans aren’t definite. Still, the company has been interested for a long time in opening the first Eastern Washington Hooters, he said.

“We’ve received numerous calls over the years from Spokane,” he said.

The company looked at several possible Spokane-area locations before zeroing in on Spokane Valley, Glick said.

“We felt that the Spokane Valley site fit in with our demographics,” he said.

HootWINC has until August 11 to decide whether to buy the land, which is near the Marriott Residence Inn, at 15915 E. Indiana Ave. If the company moves forward with the project, the restaurant could open as early as six months later, he said. The property is owned by Spokane’s Hanson Industries.

HootWINC would build a 5,000- to 6,000-square-foot structure for the restaurant, Glick said.

The Hooters chain often runs into opposition when it announces plans for new outlets, he said.

“When we go into new communities where there’s not one nearby, there’s sort of an education process we go through,” he said. “There are a lot of misconceptions about our concepts.”

Many people mistakenly believe that the so-called Hooters Girls serve food topless, but that’s never been true, Glick said.

On its Web site, Hooters of America Inc., the Atlanta-based franchiser of more than 350 restaurants, compares the waitresses to Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, Sports Illustrated swimsuit models and Radio City Rockettes.

Glick called Hooters a neighborhood restaurant.

“It’s not a family restaurant,” he said. “We understand that we’re not for everyone. … We have a market niche, and we do very well in our markets.”

Although it doesn’t market to children, the chain offers a children’s menu, according to the franchiser’s Web site. The restaurant serves sandwiches, seafood, salads and other fare.

The parcel eyed by HootWINC is big enough for more than just a restaurant, Glick said. The company applied for a gambling license through the Washington state Gambling Commission and is considering building a card room either adjacent to or instead of a Hooters, he said.

“It might turn into a coffee shop. Who knows?” Glick said.