Spokane Valley-based Falcos Garden Center Inc. plans to construct a retail-and-office building in front of its current store.


Falcos has sold its greenhouses and garden inventory, which were just north of its store at 9310 E. Sprague, to make room for the 8,900-square-foot building that will go there, says owner Louie Falco. The company will move its merchandise, showroom, and some of its offices to the new building from its current 4,500-square-foot store building, he says. That building will be converted into office space for Falcos employees, he says.


Falcos, which sells stoves, fireplaces, and barbecue grills, needed the new building to expand its product line, Falco says. The company is adding home resort products, such as spas, saunas, gazebos, bars, billiard tables, and other game tables, he says.


Construction of the new building is slated to begin April 15, and should be completed by August, Falco says. Spokane-based Haskins Steel Co., the general contractor for the project, designed the building.


The new building will have a coffee shop with a 500-square-foot sit-down area and a drive-up window at the west end of the store, Falco says. The shop, which will have computers and Internet access available for customers, will be named Giuseppes Place in honor of Falcos grandfather, Joe, who opened a fruit stand at the property in 1928 that later evolved into Falcos, he says.


Falco declines to disclose how much the building will cost.


Falcos decided to remove its garden inventory after big-box stores drew customers away from the family-owned business, Falco says. The new stores name will be shortened to Falcos to reflect the change in merchandise, he says.


The garden-center portion of Falcos also suffered losses following the conversion of Sprague Avenue into the Sprague-Appleway couplet, Falco says. Falcos faces Sprague so customers traveling east on Appleway couldnt drive by and see the businesss plants and flowers, which often are impulse buys, he says.


Falco says he considered moving the store, but decided not to do so because of his familys history there. The Falcos built the current store 25 years ago.


Apart from the lagging garden revenue, Falcos has enjoyed steady growth in merchandise sales for the last three years, and adding the home resort products could double its business, Falco says.


Weve withstood the worst, and now were going to keep climbing, he says.


The company employs about 30 people now, and will be adding about six more people once it opens its new store, he says.