Since July, once quiet Aslin-Finch Feed Co. has acquired a seed company here that has launched it into a new market, and has purchased a massive warehouse here formerly used by a giant grocery wholesaler.


The moves, says company President Jay Allert, are part of a larger effort by the 51-year-old Spokane Valley company to capitalize on its already-large Northwest distribution area.


Until recently, Aslin-Finch had focused primarily on manufacturing and distributing animal feeds, serving 800 dealers in eight Western states, as well as eight of its own retail stores. With its August acquisition of Cascade Seed Co., a Spokane wholesaler of grass and pasture seed and garden items since 1952, Aslin-Finch greatly expanded its offerings, Allert says. He declines to disclose the terms of the sale.


In the warehouse purchase, a real estate unit of Aslin-Finch recently has bought the 500,000-square-foot former SuperValu Inc. distribution center here for $10.7 million, and has begun moving some of its operations to that sprawling Spokane Valley facility.


Everything is now coming together for Aslin-Finch, says Allert, who co-owns the company with partners Fritz Wolff and Alvin J. Wolff Jr., two longtime real estate and finance entrepreneurs here.


Even without the Cascade Seed acquisition, Aslin-Finch was growing briskly, says Allert. The companys revenues, which he declines to disclose, have been growing at a double-digit pace for the past about 15 years, and its work force has nearly doubled, to about 130 workers, in the past five years, he says.


Aslin-Finch took on about 15 new employees from Cascade Seed, which serves some 250 dealers in three Western states, and plans to hire another roughly 10 workers, mostly for that new division, over the next year, Allert says. He says Cascade Seed will keep its name as a division of Aslin-Finch, and that the company hopes to expand the Cascade Seed division by marketing its products to dealers that already sell Aslin-Finch feeds. Currently, Cascade Seed distributes products mostly in Eastern Washington, North Idaho, and Western Montana.


The company has made animal feed since its inception here in 1937, but until it launched its wholesale feed division in 1992, all of its feed was made and sold at its retail stores, he says. Now, Aslin-Finch manufactures and distributes feed mostly for wholesale accounts for livestock and pets ranging from cows to kangaroos. Allert says growth in that division, which does business in a highly competitive arena, likely will be more modest than that in the new seed division.


Big warehouse


Aslin-Finch already has moved the Cascade Seed division into part of the former SuperValu warehouse at 11016 E. Montgomery in the Valley, and plans to move its distribution division there from a location near Medical Lake soon.


It bought the SuperValu warehouse through a subsidiary called Montgomery Realty LLC , which is leasing a portion of the building back to the big, Minneapolis, Minn.-based grocery distributor.


Allert says he was surprised at how impressive the SuperValu facility is.


A warehouse is a warehouse, but the first time I went through it, I thought, Wow, he says.


Allert declines to disclose how much space SuperValu continues to occupy at the warehouse or how much space Aslin-Finchs divisions will occupy, but says about 100,000 square feet of space there will be available to lease to others once Aslin-Finch has finished moving.


The companys current distribution center, a 90,000-square-foot building located near the Medical Lake exit from Interstate 90 on the West Plains, also will be offered for lease to another tenant, once those operations are moved into the former SuperValu building. Mark Lucas, of Kiemle & Hagood Co., is handling the marketing of that West Plains space, as well as of the extra space in the big Valley warehouse.


On the feed side, Aslin-Finch primarily competes with big national companies such as St. Paul, Minn.-based Land OLakes Inc. and Minneapolis, Minn.-based Cargill Inc., though there also are a number of regional players in the market, Allert says.


Were a small fish in that big sea, he says. We do our regional thing and enjoy taking care of those smaller customers out there.


Though the company focuses on its wholesale clients, it opens retail feed and supply stores when opportunities arise, usually when a wholesale customer is retiring, Allert says.


It recently moved its Spokane Valley retail store to a former furniture store building situated between a Costco store and a Home Depot store, at 5605 E. Sprague. It also operates two other stores in Spokane, as well as stores in Coeur dAlene; Colville and Kettle Falls, Wash.; and Hamilton and Stevensville, Mont.


The companys manufacturing facility is located at 5618 E. Sprague.


The company operates a fleet of 11 trucks that travel throughout Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana Wyoming, Nevada, and Utah. It ships products to Alaska via rail container out of Seattle.


Aslin-Finch makes and sells livestock feed under three of its own brand names: Palouse Feeds, LMF Horse Feeds, and Golden Harvest. It also distributes feed made by other companies for just about any animal people might own, including dogs and cats, Allert says.


He says the LMF brand for horses is one of the companys stronger product lines. Aslin-Finch developed the line with Weiser, Idaho-based equine nutritionist Stephen Duren. It consists of a number of specialty formulas, depending on the activity level of a horse or the work it does and on whether the balance of the horses diet consists of grass or alfalfa hay. Usually a horse would be fed several pounds of feed twice a day to supplement its nutrition, he says.


Allert says poultry feed is a growing part of Aslin-Finchs business, as more people buy backyard chicken coops and try their hand at raising their own food.


Most of Aslin-Finchs customers are people who have small farms on 5 to 10 acres of land, Allert says. Allert knows his markethe himself lives on a small farm near Colfax with his family and a small herd of cattle, he says.


As national feed companies increasingly focus their attention on larger retail customers, Aslin-Finch continues to serve the smaller-farm market, Allert says.


He says he expects that customer base to grow over the next few years, as baby boomers retire and look for a rural lifestyle that Allert says frequently includes keeping companion animals.


Thats a big area of growth for us, he says. Future Farmers of America and 4H groups are important sources of business, and the company sponsors a lot of events for such groups, he says.