Two sporting goods store chains are planning to open outlets within a mile of each other in Spokane Valley.
One of them, Midvale, Utah-based Sportsman’s Warehouse, has leased 32,400 square feet of retail space at the former Sports Authority site, near the Spokane Valley Mall at 15118 E. Indiana.
The other, El Segundo, Calif.-based Big 5 Sporting Goods, will occupy 13,500 square feet of retail space in the former Hancock Fabrics store site at 15735 E. Broadway, where Big 5 plans to open its second Valley store.
The leasing agent for the Sportsman’s Warehouse site, Carl Guenzel, of Spokane-based commercial real estate brokerage Kiemle & Hagood Co., says the outdoor recreation and sporting goods chain plans to open about 90 days after it starts work on tenant improvements there.
Representatives from both chains couldn’t be reached immediately for comment about how many jobs the new stores will create.
Sportsman’s Warehouse hired more than 40 employees at a similarly-sized store that it opened last month in Moses Lake, according to a recent report in the Columbia Basin Herald newspaper.
Sportsman’s Warehouse has applied for a building permit for tenant improvements valued at $1.5 million, including new interior finishes, restrooms, a front canopy, mechanical and electrical systems, and offices, Spokane Valley city records show.
Sportsman’s Warehouse opened a 36,000-square-foot Spokane store two years ago at 6720 N. Division.
The North Side store and the new Spokane Valley store represent a return to the Spokane area for the company.
Sportsman’s Warehouse had operated a store at 14014 E. Indiana, just west of the Spokane Valley Mall, and a similar-sized store in Coeur d’Alene, but sold those stores in 2008 to Canada-based Wholesale Sports Outdoor Outfitters.
Wholesale Sports moved the Valley store in 2012 to Spokane’s NorthTown Mall, and Pittsburgh-based Dick’s Sporting Goods opened an outlet in the Valley space.
Sportsman’s Warehouse operates 82 stores in 22 states and plans to open at least three more stores in the latter half of this year, according to the company’s website.
Meantime, Big 5 has obtained a building permit for a remodeling project valued at $250,000 at the Broadway site.
Big 5 operates 432 stores in 11 Western states, including a North Side store at 7501 N. Division, a Spokane Valley store at 5724 E. Sprague, and a Coeur d’Alene store at 101 Best.