A Colorado sporting goods retailer plans to build two45,000-square-foot stores in Spokane County in 1997.
'It's in our current real estate plan,' said Doug Morton,president of Gart Bros. Sporting Goods Co. 'We'd plan on opening inthe spring of '97 or fall.'
Gart, a 60-store chain, sells full lines of hunting, fishing,camping, skiing, snowboarding and team sports equipment. Mortonsaid his company wants to build free-standing stores in the SpokaneValley and on North Division.
'It's underserved,' Morton said of Spokane's sporting goodsmarket. 'We think it's going to be a great market for us.'
Spokane does not have a full-line sporting goods store thesize of Gart, which is labeled a category-killer by some in theindustry. A category killer is a store that offers so muchmerchandise at low prices that it destroys competition.
'Spokane doesn't have a true category killer in the sportinggoods sector,' said John Morrow, of Situs Realty Group, acommercial real estate company. 'From that standpoint, the marketis probably viewed as untapped.'
Some sporting goods retailers say the arrival of Gart andother stores like it will hurt consumers in the long run.
'The consumers are going to think it's great until they wantservice or they want a product and there isn't going to be anyoneleft to do it,' said Steve Warwick, who owns four sporting goodsstores in Spokane, Moscow and Pullman. 'It's going to be anover-retailed community and nothing good ever comes of that.'
Other retailers said not all sporting goods stores would beaffected by Gart.
'What they'll do to this market is have a big impact on themiddle guys and not the specialty retailers,' said Mike King,co-owner of Loulou's Sport Shop, which has three locations inSpokane and North Idaho.
King said Gart would have the biggest impact on retailerssuch as Big 5, a full-line chain sporting goods store with threelocations in Spokane and Coeur d'Alene. Big 5's average store sizeis 10,000 square feet.
Gart is negotiating with developers and has not settled onsites, Morton said, adding that the company's arrival in Spokane isa 'logical progression.'
The company has stores in Idaho in Lewiston and Moscow, and astore in Kennewick, Wash. Two months ago, it opened a35,000-square-foot store in Missoula. The company has no plans forCoeur d'Alene or Post Falls, Morton said.
'If we do something on I-90, it'll be in the Spokane Valley,'Morton said. 'Coeur d'Alene looks a little small for us.'
