Aspen Way Enterprises Inc., of Billings, Mont., plans to open its third Aarons Sales & Lease Ownership store here this fall, one of five new stores the company has slated for the Inland Northwest, says Travis Higdon, its director of operations.


The company has leased a 10,000-square-foot building space in the Opportunity Center, at 12107 E. Sprague, and expects to open the store there in September, after completing a remodeling thats already underway. James W. Elmer Construction Inc., of Spokane, is doing the renovation.


Higdon says the new store will employ five to seven people in addition to the 16 people who already work for Aspen Way in Spokane. The company opened its first Aarons store here in 2000 at 3611 E. Sprague in the longtime former Electromart Factory Direct Inc. building, and it currently operates that store and a second store at 9312 N. Division.


Aspen Way operates eight other Aarons stores in Washington, Montana and South Dakota, and it plans to open stores in Moscow, Lewiston, Moses Lake, and Walla Walla in addition to its new store here.


The company expects all five of its new Inland Northwest stores to be open by the beginning of 2009, Higdon says.


Aspen Way is an independent franchisee for Aarons Rents Inc., an Atlanta-based franchiser with 1,380 stores throughout the continental U.S. and in Canada. Aarons Sales and Lease Ownership is the largest of that companys three divisions.


Aarons outlets sell and lease-to-own a variety of goods for the home, including furniture, appliances, electronics, and computers.


RandyJassman, of Tomlinson Black, handled Aspen Ways lease for its new outlet.


Contact Jeanne Gustafson at (509) 344-1264 or via e-mail at jeanneg@spokanejournal.com.