AutoZone Inc., a big Memphis, Tenn.-based retailer of automotive parts and accessories, plans to enter the Spokane market by opening two stores here this year, says company spokesman Ray Pohlman.


One of the stores will be constructed at 2626 N. Division, and the other will be located near the intersection of Pines Road and Sprague Avenue in Spokane Valley, says Pohlman, who is based in Memphis. Both are slated to open in August, he says.


On whether AutoZone might have plans for more stores here, Pohlman says, Im sure there are. Washington is the last state we opened. The Northwest is the last frontier (for the company).


AutoZone is opening about 200 stores a year and now has more than 3,500 outlets in all, he says. It opened its first Eastern Washington store, in Othello, in April, and plans to open one in Lewiston, Idaho, about the same time as the two here, he says.


Each store here will have about 6,300 square feet of retail space and will employ 10 to 12 people, counting full- and part-time employees, Pohlman says. Also, each store will carry inventories tailored to the market area within a three-mile radius, based on vehicle-ownership research done by the company, he says.


Our sweet spot is 7-year-old and older vehicles, Pohlman says.


Construction of the North Side store, which will be located next to a Schucks Auto Supply store, already is under way. AutoZone is leasing about half of a 45,000-square-foot piece of land there between Division and Ruby Street from a company called Magnolia Enterprises LLC, says Marshall Clark, of Spokanes Clark Pacific Real Estate Co., which handled the transaction.


Clark says another retailer that would be new to the Spokane area is working on plans to construct a 4,500-square-foot store on the rest of the site, perhaps by the end of this year, and is looking at developing other outlets here as well. He declines to identify the company, though, saying the North Side transaction hasnt been completed.


Although both stores on that site will be located inside the busy Division-Ruby couplet, the AutoZone store will face Division and the other store will face Ruby, Clark says.


Magnolia Enterprises, which includes investors from Spokane and elsewhere, bought the North Side parcel last year from East Indiana College Group LLC, a development company formed by Lydig Construction Inc. principals.


Clarks real estate company handled that transaction as well, and he said last summer that Magnolia envisioned developing one or two retail buildings on the property. A 27,000-square-foot Pre-Vocational Training Center facility formerly was located on the site, but was torn down to make room for other uses. Pre-Vocational Training, a nonprofit organization that serves people with disabilities, moved to a 20,000-square-foot building it bought at 4004 E. Boone.


Other than the approximate location of Sprague and Pines, Pohlman didnt have information on where exactly the AutoZone store in Spokane Valley will be located. However, Spokane Valley city building division employees say the company has indicated it plans to occupy the southern portion of a vacant Albertsons store near the northeast corner of that intersection and that the store will have an entrance facing Sprague.


AutoZone stores carry an extensive line of products for cars, sport utility vehicles, vans, and light trucks, including new and remanufactured hard parts, maintenance items, and accessories, and AutoZone sells parts through its Web site as well. As of three months ago, when the company released its latest store numbers, it was operating 3,474 stores in 48 states plus the District of Columbia in the U.S. and 67 stores in Mexico. Its shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.