Jo-Ann Stores Inc., the Hudson, Ohio-based specialty retailer that does business here as Jo-Ann Fabrics & Crafts, has leased most of a building that formerly housed a Circuit City Stores Inc. outlet near the Spokane Valley Mall, says a commercial real estate agent involved in the transaction.

The agent, Erik Nelson, of Spokane-based Kiemle & Hagood Co., says Jo-Ann Stores will move its Spokane Valley outlet to the newly leased space in Market Pointe I, a retail strip at 15110 E. Indiana, north of Interstate 90, just east of the Spokane Valley Mall. The store is expected to open there in March. Nelson says 6,200 square feet of floor space remains available for lease at the former Circuit City site.

The Spokane Valley Jo-Ann store currently occupies a much smaller space in the Opportunity Shopping Center, at 12205 E. Sprague, Nelson says. A call to that store was referred to the company's corporate office, and a spokeswoman there declined to comment.

Jo-Ann stores sell apparel and quilting fabrics, home dcor items, seasonal accents, and floral and craft products. Larger stores that it calls superstores also offer custom framing, the company's Web site says.

Jo-Ann has more than 760 stores nationwide, including three other stores in the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area. One store is on the South Hill, at 2801 E. 29th. Another is in the Five Mile Shopping Center, at 1840 W. Francis. The other is at 1003 N. Fourth, in Coeur d'Alene.

The company's Web site describes the Sprague, South Hill, and Coeur d'Alene outlets as "smaller stores" and the Five Mile outlet as a "larger superstore."

Richmond, Va.-based Circuit City Stores Inc., once the second-largest retailer of home electronics in the country, closed all 567 of its U.S. outlets, including the Spokane Valley store and a North Side outlet at 7701 N. Division, earlier this year. The Division Street site still is vacant.