The Spokane-area grocery industry is changing faster than you can say, Paper or plastic?


Wal-Mart Stores Inc. nearly has finished adding grocery departments at all three of its stores here and wants to develop two more locations, each of which would include supermarkets. Another large national player, Albertsons Inc., has agreed to sell its assets to a consortium of investors, and one of the consortiums members, SuperValu Inc., of Eden Prairie, Minn., will take ownership of all Albertsons stores in the Northwest. Its unclear what effectif anythe ownership change will have on the 10 Albertsons stores here.


Meanwhile, a couple of long-planned stores still are on the drawing boards, and other supermarket operators here are moving forward aggressively to revamp stores to attract more customers with updated looks and product mixes.


We have a plan to remodel each store every seven years, says Jeffry Philipps, president and CEO of Rosauers Supermarkets Inc., the Spokane-based chain that has eight grocery stores in the Spokane area. The trends change that often. Quite honestly, theyre changing faster than that.


As grocers work to stay current with trends, Wal-Mart is trying to penetrate the market further by beefing up its grocery offerings.


Work is nearing completion on a $5.3 million addition to a Wal-Mart store near the Division Street Y, on Spokanes North Side, and a conversion of the store into a supercenter that will carry groceries. Patrick Linhart, a project manager at Vandervert Construction Inc., says the new 73,000-square-foot space, most of which will house a new grocery department, is scheduled to be completed next month, and the grocery department is slated to open in June.


About three years ago, Wal-Mart expanded its other two Spokane-area storeslocated at 2301 W. Wellesley, on the North Side, and at 15727 E. Broadway, in Spokane Valleyto accommodate groceries.


The large Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer has proposed development of a supercenter on Spokanes South Hill, at the northeast corner of Regal Street and 44th Avenue, and a Sams Club on the North Side at the northeast corner of Lincoln Road and Nevada Street. Both would include substantial grocery departments.


Both proposed new stores have regulatory hurdles to clear before they move forward, and grocers are watching their progress closely.


That clearly is something we need to monitor, says John Bole, president and CEO of Yokes Washington Foods Inc., the Spokane-based supermarket chain with eight Yokes Fresh Market stores in the Spokane area. Theres only so much business to go around.


While Bole will have an eye on Wal-Marts progress, that proposed development isnt deterring Yokes from moving forward with its own plans on the South Hill. Yokes wants to develop a store at the southeast corner of 57th Avenue and Palouse Highway, about a mile southeast of the Wal-Mart site, as part of a mixed-used development.


Yokes currently is preparing to open a new supermarket in West Richland, Wash. After that store is up and running, Bole says hell focus his attentions on the South Hill project.


Yokes still owns land along U.S. 2 on the West Plains and plans eventually to build a new Airway Heights store, replacing its outlet there, but Bole says the company doesnt have a timeline for that project yet.


Also on the West Plains, a sign that read, Coming Soon Albertsons sat on bare land along U.S. 2 for several years, but that project failed to materialize.


Grocers here say they dont know how the pending sale of Albertsons, which is scheduled to be completed in the middle of this year, will affect the Spokane market.


Even among insiders, that, frankly, is a huge unknown right now, Bole says.


Meanwhile, a couple of supermarket operators are revamping their stores.


Rosauers is well under way on a $3 million remodel and expansion at its store at 2610 E. 29th, on Spokanes South Hill, and the company plans to renovate eight more storeslocated both here and in other marketsin the next few years, Philipps says.


At the 29th Avenue store, about 3,000 square feet or floor space is being added to the east end of the store, giving it a total of 56,000 square feet of space.


Also, the departments are being reconfigured to accommodate a Huckleberrys Fresh Market department, which will have a mix of natural and organic foods like those carried at the companys Huckleberrys store on Spokanes lower South Hill. The store will be the 10th Rosauers with a Huckleberrys department. Work there is expected to be completed this summer, Philipps says.


Across 29th Avenue from that store, Safeway Inc., of Pleasanton, Calif., completed the renovation of its South Hill store last summer and since has undertaken remodels of other supermarkets it operates in the Spokane-Coeur dAlene area, including its store at the northeast corner of Mission Avenue and Hamilton Street, near Gonzaga University.


Craig Johnson, the Spokane-based district manager for Safeway, said earlier this year that the company plans to renovate most of its stores here within the next two years.


The new look at the Safeway stores is what the grocery chain refers to as a lifestyle design, which concentrates on upgrades to departments on the periphery of the store, such as flowers, produce, meats, deli, and bakery.


Tidymans LLC, of Spokane, sold three of its store buildings earlier this year, leasing back two of the structures in which the company continues to operate supermarkets. The company said at the time that its using the proceeds from those transactions to pay down debt. It has disclosed plans previously to remodel stores here and possibly build some smaller grocery stores here, but it hasnt moved forward with any of those plans yet.


Updating a store tends to boost customer traffic and to bolster its sales, Philipps says.


Thats why we invest in the stores, he says. We are gaining customers and are attracting more attention from the customers who shop around.


Contact Linn Parish at (509) 344-1266 or via e-mail at linnp@spokanejournal.com.