Future Shop Inc., which is in the process of implementing a new strategic plan that has resulted in the closure of five stores and will involve the renovation of others, says that its two Spokane-area stores will remain open.


Gary Patterson, chief financial officer of the Vancouver, British Columbia-based consumer-electronics chain, says the companys Spokane stores, located at Northpointe Plaza on the Newport Highway and at Sprague Avenue and Sullivan Road in the Spokane Valley, definitely arent on the closure list. Future Shop opened both those stores about two years ago. It hasnt been decided yet, however, whether those stores will undergo renovations or changes in product mix, he says.


Future Shop Inc., which is a Kent, Wash.-based U.S. subsidiary of Future Shop Ltd., says it has closed one store in downtown Portland and four stores in Utah within the last month. Wesbild Shopping Centers Ltd., a sister company of Future Shop Ltd., will assume financial responsibility for the leases of the closed stores and will seek tenants to sublease those properties. Wesbild also is the owner of Northpointe Plaza here.


Future Shop Inc. says it will take a one-time charge of about $10 million in its second fiscal quarter, ended Sept. 30, as a result of implementing its strategic plan, which it says is designed to eliminate the losses in lower performing markets and focus efforts on markets where Future Shop is achieving strong results.


Meanwhile, Future Shop stores in Bellevue, Issaquah, Everett, and Tacoma, Wash., are slated for renovation under the plan, which will allow them to carry an expanded number of products. Patterson says that Future Shop hasnt decided which products or product lines will be added at those stores.