Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is looking at Post Falls as a possible site for one of its supercenter stores, but its unlikely that the giant Arkansas-based retail chain will make visible progress on the project for months, a Post Falls planning official says.


Chances are we wont hear anything from them, probably this year, says Gary Young, planning director for the city of Post Falls. I just know they have enough to do on a potential siting of a Wal-Mart to carry them through (the year), he says.


The property Wal-Mart purportedly is interested in lies east of the Coeur dAlene RV Resort, and between Greenferry and Pines roads north of Interstate 90. Young says he has met with a team of engineers from CLC Associates Inc., a Colorado company that has a Spokane branch and is doing a traffic study on the 20-acre site. Young says that the engineers initially identified their client as Wal-Mart, but later said the client was an anonymous big-box retailer. Amy Hill, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman in Reno, Nev., says, Weve certainly been looking at the Post Falls area, but I cant confirm anything at this time.


Wal-Mart last week announced plans to open two new supercenters in Idaho, in Garden City and Twin Falls. The companys supercenter stores carry groceries in addition to Wal-Marts typical mix of general merchandise. Such stores average between 100,000 and 210,000 square feet of retail space, and employ anywhere from 200 to 550 people, the company says.