The general manager of Northwest Seed & Pet has bought the assets of that 59-year-old Spokane pet and garden-supply business.


Bob Mauk, who has been with the company for 25 years and worked his way up from clerk to general manager, bought Northwest Seed for an undisclosed amount from brothers Steve and Ken Hester in April. The well-known retailer, which operates stores at 2422 E. Sprague and 7302 N. Division, had been in the Hester family since the mid-1950s, Mauk says.


Were still just a little local mom-and-pop operation, he says.


The Hesters operated the business as Northwest Seed & Pet Inc., but briefly changed the name of the company to Hester Holding Co. in April so that Mauk could form a business called Northwest Seed & Pet Inc. and buy the assets of the business under the former name.


Through RLC Group LLC, a separate company Mauk formed recently, he plans to buy the 17,000-square-foot East Sprague building from Hesco Enterprises, another company the Hesters own. Mauk plans, however, to continue leasing the 20,000-square-foot North Division location from Hesco.


Mauk says little will change at the stores, which together employ 52 people.


The Hesters are approaching retirement age and had become less involved in Northwest Seeds day-to-day operations in recent years, Mauk says.


There was no one else in the family to pass it on to, and we wanted to keep going, he says.


Northwest Seed opened in 1944, and about 10 years later was purchased by Steve and Ken Hesters father, along with a partner, Mauk says. The partner later was bought out by the Hester family. During the Hesters tenure, the store became known for selling unusual animals, such as spider monkeys, wallabies, orangutans, and pumas, before government regulations restricted those sales, Mauk says. They opened the companys second store on North Division in 1984 and its third store, at Sprague Avenue and Sullivan Road in Spokane Valley, in 1997. Northwest Seed closed its Valley store three years ago, citing poor sales.


Sales at the retail stores have been down since the onslaught of the boxes, Mauk says, referring to large chain stores that have moved into Spokane and compete with Northwest Seed and others.


The pie has been split up a little differently with the Wal-Marts of the world and the (Home) Depots, and the Lowes, he says.