Is outdoors big enough?

White Elephant Surplus Stores have catered to outdoors enthusiasts in the region for nearly 60 years.

The family-owned stores in Spokane and Spokane Valley sell a mix of discount outdoor sporting gear that attracts a loyal group of shoppers who spend $8 million to $10 million there annually.

“For us, there is no slow time. It’s just one season after another and anything we can do to keep up,” said Ed Conley, one of three brothers who run the business started by their father, John Conley.

Outdoor recreation is big business, here and nationwide. Sales of fishing and camping gear and hunting equipment and firearms reached $4.8 billion in the United States last year, according to the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, a Washington D.C.-based trade association.

With dozens of specialty stores and discounters luring Inland Northwest shoppers with the latest tackle and tents — and Cabela’s and Sportsman’s Warehouse planning to open more stores in the region — sportsmen and -women will have a mountain of choices.

But is the Northwest market big enough to sustain three more big sporting goods stores? And why are companies venturing into retail territory already occupied by chains like Big 5, Sports Authority and REI and independents like Mountain Gear, White’s Boots, General Store and Black Sheep Sporting Goods and Toys?

Mike May, director of media relations for the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, said the Northwest’s abundance of lakes and forests is attracting a growing number of people who thrive on the great outdoors. While the East Coast has more people, the Northwest has more participants.

“I think generally if you hand-selected 10 people off the street in Spokane, you’d have a higher chance of finding people who spend their recreational time outdoors,” May said.

About 96,000 hunting and fishing licenses were issued last year in Spokane County, according to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. In Kootenai County, 38,509 licenses and tags were issued through the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. That doesn’t include surrounding counties, which also issue tens of thousands of licenses annually.

Representatives of Sidney, Neb.-based Cabela’s recently met with Idaho legislators to discuss building a Post Falls location. The company operates 17 destination stores, featuring big aquariums and wildlife displays, and typically lobbies for tax breaks from governments eager to usher in tourism dollars.

Retail spokesman James Powell said Cabela’s wants to locate in the area because it has a significant number of mail-order customers here. The 45-year-old company ships out more than 120 million catalogs annually and had sales of $1.8 billion in 2005, according to Hoover’s, a company that researches corporations.

Hoover’s said Cabela’s sales grew by 15.7 percent last year, outstripping by a wide margin sales at Sports Authority Inc., which posted a 3 percent sales gain last year, and Big 5 Sporting Goods Corp., which showed an increase of 4.1 percent.

Sportsman’s Warehouse, which is based in Salt Lake City, Utah and operates a Spokane Valley store, is building a Coeur d’Alene location and looking for property in north Spokane.

“In Coeur d’Alene, that’s a good growth area. I think we can do okay over there,” said Stuart Utgaard, owner of the 54-store chain. His company typically opens two or three stores in a market, Utgaard said, and the chain faces a growing number of competitors wherever they go.

Local independent retailers think the market can withstand the competition.

After Sportsman’s Warehouse opened in Spokane Valley, Conley said sales at the Spokane Valley White Elephant steadily increased.

“I say bring it on. I’m all for sportsmen and the sporting industry. It seems like it just increases what works for us,” Conley said.

Management at White’s Boots isn’t worried about the competition, either. Tucked away on East Ferry Avenue across from the Spokane County Fair & Expo Center, the store has a thousand-gallon aquarium stocked with bass and walleye, and life-size wildlife displays.

“We’re just kind of a little destination store here in the middle of nowhere,” said Gary March, president and CEO of the 100-year-old local business that is owned by his brother, Skip March.

March said retail makes up just 20 percent of White Boots’ business. The company’s main focus is making boots, including work and high-end hunting boots, which are shipped to 500 dealers. The store sells upper-end fishing gear and outdoor clothing primarily to attract more boot customers, he said.

March believes the market for sporting goods will keep growing as more people migrate to the Northwest seeking a higher quality of life.

“For some reason, people are moving here and it’s obviously not for all the jobs cropping up here.”