Odom Northwest Beverage Spokane has bought another beer-and-wine wholesaler here and separately has acquired the Spokane-area distribution rights to Coors beer from another company.


Odom Northwest, a division of Seattle-based Odom Corp., last month completed the purchase of Empire Beverage Inc., of Spokane, and in addition bought the Coors line from B&B Distributors Inc., also of Spokane, says Adam Hilpert, regional manager of the Odom unit here. Terms of the transactions werent disclosed.


Also last month, Odoms Spokane operation moved into a 65,000-square-foot facility at 4122 S. Grove, on the West Plains, and consolidated its newly acquired operations there, Hilpert says. The company, which largely has distributed wine and specialty beers here, is leasing the facility from the U.S. Postal Service, which previously had used it for a priority-mail service center.


The acquisitions are part of Odoms growth strategy for the Inland Northwest, Hilpert says.


In the last several years theres been a move toward consolidation on both the supplier level as well as the distributor level, and the Odom Corp. has taken a fairly active role in being a consolidator in Eastern Washington and Idaho, he says. Spokane is kind of the crown gem of that network.


The company entered the Spokane market several years ago with the acquisition of wine distributor Northwest Select Wines & Spirits here. In recent years, Odom also has acquired distributorships in Coeur dAlene and Pullman, and has operations in Walla Walla, Wash., and Lewiston, Idaho.


The company employs 53 people at its Spokane operation, 30 of whom joined the company as the result of the two latest acquisitions, Hilpert says.


He says the company hired 85 to 90 percent of the employees of Empire Beverage and B&Bs Coors operation, picking up 20 new employees from Empire and 10 from B&B.


With the acquisition of Empire Beverage, some of Odoms biggest brands now are Coors and Samuel Adams beer, and Kendall-Jackson, Robert Mondavi, Fetzer, and Korbel wines, Hilpert says. Previously, the companys biggest brands were the wineries associated with the Chalone Wine Group, which include Canoe Ridge Vineyard and Chalone Vineyard, along with Pepperwood Grove Winery and Barnard Griffin Winery.


As part of the purchase of Empire from previous owner Ron Stoddard, Odom is leasing that companys former facility, at 1505 N. Bradley, until the end of this year, and will try to sublease the space to another user, he says.


B&B, meanwhile, continues to sell Anheuser-Busch products, such as Budweiser beer.