Sears Quietly Considers Possible Expansion Of Silver Lake Mall Store

Oh, that awkward silence!

The rumor that Sears plans a major addition to its Silver Lake Mall store gathered several seconds of silence from store manager Glen Seely this week. Seely simply commented that he’s “not ready” to talk about the plan. Nothing is confirmed, he said.

The same answer came from Dennis Curtis, manager of Silver Lake Mall. Curtis did say that changes are possible to the general configuration of the mall area, which had included a pad for an unattached store on mall property at Highway 95 and Canfield Avenue. The plan for the pad can be eliminated for parking spaces if current parking space is taken up by an expansion to the present mall, such as an addition to the Sears store.

The present Sears store is 52,560 square feet, the mall’s largest tenant.

Sears is in the middle of a major remodeling plan nationwide, according to media spokeswoman Linda Blakeley in Chicago, adding that 118 stores will be remodeled in 1995. Projects for 1996 have not been announced.

Meanwhile, in addition to the already mentioned pad, three other pads could be added to the mall area - two more along Canfield Avenue and one along Government Way between Canfield and Hanley.

The mall has two empty spots, Curtis said, although the space formerly occupied by Hoageyville has been spoken for by a nonfood tenant.

Speaking of malls, the outlet malls west of Post Falls have a few changes.

Big Dog Sportswear now occupies 2,500 square feet in the space formerly taken by Greetings & More (next to the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory) in The Factory Outlets (the complex adjacent to Interstate 90).

The store, one of more than 70 internationally, offers unisex sportswear and youth and toddler clothing, including graphic T-shirts, polo shirts and shorts. Chris Frost manages seven employees in the store, which opened Memorial Day weekend.

Meanwhile, the Welcome Home store has moved to expand from 2,250 to 3,150 square feet in the space formerly occupied by Lily of France lingerie. Welcome Homes offers home accessories and decorating items, gifts and kitchenware.

Welcome Home’s former space has been spoken for, according to Ed Adamchak, mall manager.

Two new stores in the Post Falls Factory Stores (at Riverbend and Pleasantview) are OshKosh B-Gosh and the Dress Barn.

OshKosh B-Gosh will open Friday in a new 4,500-square-foot space. The store offers children’s apparel for newborn to Size 7 for boys and 6-X for girls. Linette Jones will manage eight to 10 employees. With headquarters in, where else, Oshkosh, Wis., the chain has about 75 stores.

With a mid-August opening planned, the Dress Barn will occupy 5,016 square feet. The store offers famous label suits, dresses and casual and career sportswear in sizes 4-14.

The new stores leave just two spaces (of the original 20) remaining open in the new mall, which is less than a year old. Property manager is Joyce Fontaine.

The mayor has moved.

A.J. (Al) Hassell III, Coeur d’Alene’s mayor since January 1994, has moved his insurance and financial services office to 1410 Lincoln Way. The space formerly was occupied by Pioneer Insurance, and Hassell and partner Judy Anderson were at 2020 Lakewood Drive.

Hassell primarily deals with business and financial planning and was a Coeur d’Alene city councilman for eight years. Anderson specializes in group and family insurance plans. They moved because they needed more space, Hassell said.

Two new Coeur d’Alene street intersection projects can leave drivers with problems.

The most serious is on Government Way just south of Wallace Avenue. Drivers headed north on Government Way from the new intersection with Northwest Boulevard can find their tires in a gravel trough as they round the corner between Pioneer Title and the old jail. Evidently the intersection was a state highway project and the gravel portion would be the city’s responsibility.

The second problem is similar as a northbound driver suddenly can find himself on a short stretch of unpredictable gravel just south of the revamped 15th Street intersection with Best Avenue.

In each case, one has to wonder who would be liable if a driver had problems caused by faulty streets.