Cost Plus Inc., an Oakland, Calif.-based retail chain that sells imported home dcor and specialty items, appears to have firmed up earlier reported plans to enter the Spokane market.


A city of Spokane building-plan reviewer says the city is almost ready to issue a building permit for a 24,000-square-foot retail building on Spokanes North Side that is expected to house a Cost Plus World Market outlet.


The city plan reviewer, Tom Craig, says that, except for the zoning department, all of the city departments that have to approve the building permit have OKd it. The project, at 6125 N. Division, is to be called Cost Plus Plaza and is to be located south of the new Northwest Bedding building near the Division-Francis intersection.


Representatives of Cost Plus and Tombari Enterprises Limited Partnership, which owns the proposed development site, couldnt be reached for comment.


The building permit application puts the value of the proposed building project at just over $1 million. It isnt clear how much of the building Cost Plus would occupy.


Cost Plus first said in the fall of 1997 that it might open a store here. At the time, Spokane was one of 20 cities in the West and Midwest where the company was considering opening new stores. The chain opened 15 new stores last year, and now operates more than 80 stores in 12 states.


The typical Cost Plus World Market outlet has about 19,000 square feet of floor space and employs about 30 people, full and part time. It offers more than 10,000 home-furnishing and entertainment items imported from 50 countries around the world.