Northwest Maps, which for the past several years was Spokane's primary option for  buying topo and recreation maps, has shifted to an online- and phone-only business, said owner Steve Mitrovich.

In addition to closing down its Spokane Valley store, the Mitroviches now are only selling their own published atlases and marketing maps for this area. They've sold all their topo and recreational maps to Metsker Maps of Seattle.

Steve Mitrovich said the store closed on July 1. The reason?  Recreational map purchases continued to dwindle and the number of maps and map books sold didn't justify running the business, he said.

The company will take phone orders and orders placed through its website www.nwmaps.com. The business phone number is509 455-6981.

REI still sells some physical topo and recreation maps, Mitrovich said.

As the web has continued to gain online presence, many recreationists are also ordering and printing maps directly from sites such as USGS.gov and the Forest Service online map service.

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