Tri-State Distributors has sold its Tri-State outdoor stores in Lewiston, Moscow, Coeur d’Alene and Moses Lake to Sportsman & Ski Haus, an employee-owned sporting goods retailer with locations in Kalispell and Whitefish, Mont.

Sportsman & Ski Haus has no plans to close stores or alter the inventory of the four stores, each of which are independently profitable, said Gerard Connelly, president and majority owner of Tri-State Distributors, reported the The Lewiston Morning Tribune.

Tri-State had a record year of selling upper-end sporting goods, hardware, clothing and kitchen gear in 2008, followed by an even bigger one in 2009, Connelly said.

Connelly and his sister Mary Connelly, Tri-State’s chief financial officer, will stay with the company for a year following the sale, which is effective Oct. 1.

“My primary responsibility, for the sake of my family, our employees and the community, is to secure the future of Tri-State beyond my own career, and that is what we are accomplishing with this transfer in ownership to a great company,” Gerald Connelly said in the news release.

---

---