Spokanes three Meineke Discount Mufflers stores have been bought by a new company thats affiliated with a big Meineke franchisee in Portland, Ore.


The Spokane-based company, SRD Inc., also has a license to open a fourth Meineke store in the Spokane-Coeur dAlene area, and expects to do so within six months to a year, says Ken Dole, one of SRDs three stockholders.


SRD bought one of the Meineke outlets here, at 710 W. Francis, from Steve Bishop, of Spokane, and the other two, at 11 N. Division and 523 N. Pines, from Ron Sterling, also of Spokane. The terms of the transactions werent disclosed. SRD also bought a Meineke franchise outlet in Lewiston, Idaho, Dole says.


The transactions closed last week, although SRD had been operating the Meineke stores here since late April, Bishop says.


Doles other partners in SRD are Mike Ramberg and members of the Sparks family, all of whom reside in Portland, Dole says.


The Sparks family owns or has interests in 11 Meineke locations in the Portland area, and Ramberg has interests in five of those stores, Dole says.


Dole worked for the Sparks family in Portland for about a year before negotiating the agreement through which SRD bought the Spokane outlets. Prior to that, he worked for Meinekes corporate office in Charlotte, N.C., for many years, he says.


Dole says the Spokane-Coeur dAlene market demographically can accommodate one, maybe two more stores, and SRD has plans to expand in this market beyond the one additional license it already has purchased. The partners havent decided whether to open that next store in North Idaho or Spokane, he says.