WinCo to open Feb. 9

The first of two large WinCo Foods supermarkets in Spokane County will open its doors Feb. 9.

The Boise-based discount food retailer’s first store in Spokane, at 9257 N. Nevada St., will fill a new building measuring 94,000 square feet.

In keeping with its low-cost, wide-selection approach, the store’s grand opening will be low-key, company spokesman Michael Read said.

“We’ll raise the flag and open the doors,” he said.

A second WinCo is set to open this spring at 9806 E. Sprague Ave. A former Home Base hardware outlet and a Spokane Valley restaurant are being converted at that site.

The stores will be about the same size and each will employ 200 to 225 workers, Read said.

The Spokane store will be the chain’s 65th.

WinCo stores offer a vast selection but fewer frills than some competitors. At the checkouts, customers bag and carry their own groceries, “except for those people who need assistance,” Read noted.

The two stores will have delis for meat, fish and takeout. Each store will have a pizzeria near the entrance.

The company’s name derives from the five states in which it operates: Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California and Oregon. The nearest Idaho store is in Moscow.

WinCo initially will supply the stores from its Woodburn, Ore., distribution center. The company is building another distribution center in Boise and expects that facility to supply the Spokane stores starting later this year. Sales in 2008 exceeded $3 billion. WinCo is an employee-owned company.