With the opening of the large Sportsmans Warehouse store near the Spokane Valley Mall late last summer, another big-league player has taken the field in what appears to be an increasingly competitive market for sporting goods here.


For the most part, however, smaller, locally owned stores say such major new competitors have yet to take away their home-field advantage.


I cant say theres been a measurable impact, Bill Barany, co-owner and manager of The General Store on Spokanes North Side, says of the Utah-based chains entry into the marketplace here. Sales are up, but undoubtedly less than they might be otherwise.


The General Store, a family-owned, Spokane business for more than 50 years, also didnt feel the pinch when two 45,000-square-foot Gart Sports chain outlets opened here three years ago in the Northpointe Shopping Center and the Valley Mall, Barany says. In contrast, though, Barany says the $4.5 million, 57,000-square-foot store opened here by Sportsmans Warehouse might prove to be a more direct competitor to The General Store because of its focus on hunting, fishing and outdoor wear.


At Mountain Gear Inc., another longtime Spokane sporting goods store, manager John Schwartz says he thinks sales have benefited from the increasing number of sporting-goods stores in the Spokane area.


If I see anything, its that we get more business and more people become aware of the kinds of recreational activities they can become involved in, Schwartz says.


Mountain Gear, which has been locally owned and operated for 18 years, sells higher-end sporting goods and offers more expertise than most of the chain stores, Schwartz contends. It competes more directly with chains like Seattle-based Recreational Equipment Inc., which operates 61 retail stores throughout the nation, including one at 1125 N. Monroe St, he says.


A Midvale, Utah-based chain, Sportsmans Warehouse operates six other stores, in Utah, Idaho, and Colorado. Its Spokane Valley store employs about 75 and offers a range of products, including hunting and fishing supplies, camping supplies, canoes, and outdoor clothing and footwear.


Jeremy Sage, who manages the store, says sales there have been strong in the two months since the stores opening, with many customers coming from both Idaho and Montana to shop.


Sage attributes the new stores rapid success and the Utah chains recent rapid growth to a merchandizing approach of offering a wide selection of products focused almost exclusively on hunting, fishing, camping, outdoor wear, and accessories, as well as what he says is good service and fair pricing.


Although the new Sportsmans Warehouse isnt far from the Gart Sports outlet on the opposite side of the Valley Mall, the two stores carry limited overlap in the types of products they sell, and he anticipates little direct competition between them, Sage says.


Representatives for the 178-store, Denver-based Gart Bros. Sporting Goods Co., which owns the Valley Mall and Northpointe stores, couldnt be reached for comment.


At one of Spokanes better-known sporting-goods outlets, Whites Outdoors, at 4002 E. Ferry Ave., manager Dave Eberhart says We havent really seen any effect (from increasing competition) over the past few years. In addition to boots and clothing we carry a broad selection of fishing geara lot of stuff thats not in the other shops.


The store is an outgrowth of Whites Boots, established in 1915, and has 20 employees. The boot maker devoted 6,000 square-feet of retail space to sales of fishing tackle and other outdoor gear three years ago, Eberhart says, and has enjoyed steady growth in sales in each ensuing year.


Whether the sporting-goods industry here is growing to fill an ever-expanding consumer appetite or nearing market saturation in the face of approaching economic downturn may be impossible to tell yet. Part of the answer might lie in the fact that the Yellow Pages here now list some 50 retail outlets, from ski and golf shops to running-gear suppliers and exercise-equipment retailers. Big Five Sports, a 252-store nationwide chain, has operated three stores in the Spokane-Coeur d Alene area for several years, and many other general merchandise chains that have expanded here over the past decade, including Fred Meyer, Shopko, Costco, Wal-Mart, and others, feature major sporting goods sections.


From the small specialty shops to the large chain superstores, the sporting-goods industry employs hundreds Gart Sports, for instance, employs 175 at its Northpointe and Valley Mall outletswho help consumers meet their recreational needs and fill their closets with an endless variety of sporting gear.


The 40,000-square-foot General Store, in addition to handling household goods, hardware, automotive products, and clothing, carries about 70,000 sporting-goods items, most of them for hunting, fishing, camping, and boating, in its 8,000-square-foot sporting goods section. About 12 of the stores 80 employees work in sporting goods, Barany says.


They do carry a more comparable line of products, Barany says of Sportsmans Warehouse. And we probably wont see the full impact of that new store for a while. I dont even know if theyre in the phone book yet.


Schwartz asserts that Mountain Gear has a competitive edge because it places more emphasis on ensuring that its employees are knowledgeable about the products they sell.


We work harder with our salespeople, he says. We train them hard and spend time and money doing it. We have a seasoned core of employees who have been with us for some time, plus a number of college students.


Mountain Gears sales have grown steadily over the past three years, Schwartz says, and while the company also markets products nationally and internationally through catalog sales and over the Internet, sales at its store here have increased in that time despite the heightened local competition, Schwartz says.


While Schwartz thinks the Spokane market is large enough to support all of the retail sporting-goods stores here, he also says he believes that the potential for worsening general economic conditions may take a toll on some of them in time.


I think youll see in the next six to nine months, because of the whole economic situation over that time, whos going to last, he says.


The General Stores Barany also says uncertainties created by the soft economy may tend to heighten the effects of increasing competition for sporting-goods sales here. He says the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the U.S., in combination with the opening of hunting season, prompted a surge in the sales of firearms and ammunition. The resulting economic problems following in the wake of the attacks, however, still may have a negative influence on sales of sporting goods over the longer term, he says.


Sporting goods tends to fall in the expendable category, Barany says. Theyre fun products. But you dont really need that new hunting rifle or that new tent, and we could see a drop in sales if the economic situation gets gruesome.


The General Store doesnt plan to alter its product lines or increase advertising in response to heightened competition, but is prepared to adjust its pricing, he says.


Were highly price sensitive, says Barany. Well meet or beat any (competitors) price thats brought in.