Great Floors to Add Another Location

Lacey, WA, September 1, 2006--Flooring retailer Great Floors expects to break ground on a 48,000-square-foot store in the next 30 days, a branch manager said Thursday, according to the Olympian. The store could be open in the spring of 2007, according to Scot Suits, branch manager of the existing Great Floors store in Lacey at 5700 Pacific Ave. The company plans to spend $2.24 million on the building, according to a Thurston County building permit. Once the new store is complete, Great Floors will leave its leased 16,000-square-foot home and move to 7800 Martin Way E., located near Marvin Road. Great Floors has operated a store in South Sound since 1994, but the company wanted to be closer to the growing retail shopping destination known as the Lacey Marketplace, Suits said. Lacey Marketplace is home to retailers and wholesalers such as The Home Depot and Costco, which draw do-it-yourself builders and other consumers, he said. Great Floors is based in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and operates 15 stores in Washington and two in Idaho, Suits said. The majority owner of the company, Doug Chadderdon, could not be reached for comment. Great Floors employs a staff of about 20, but that is expected to grow to 35 or 40 employees at its new location, Suits said. "We'll start to interview in November for the new store," he said. The company previously leased space for its existing Lacey store, but it bought seven acres of property for its future home. In addition to the main store, the company also plans to lease or sell land to businesses that complement its own business, such as plumbing, wallpaper or paint stores, Suits said. Neighbors who live near the building site were mostly pleased with the arrival of the store because it would help clean up land that has been used for a makeshift dump. The overall property, which is estimated at 18 acres, is littered with abandoned cars and other debris, according to Vance Johnson, who has lived at the Thompson Place neighborhood since 1990. "You won't believe what you're going to see," said Johnson about junk on the property. "There's new stuff every week." Another neighbor, Rick Gonzales, also isn't concerned about new development as long as it doesn't harm the environment. "I don't know how people feel about trees, but I like trees," he said.