Manito Super 1 Foods Inc., a Hayden Lake-based company that operates Super 1 Foods grocery stores in North Idaho and Western Montana, plans to build a $6 million, 55,000-square-foot supermarket in Rathdrum, Idaho, later this year.


Super 1 Foods President Ron McIntire says he and a development partner, retired North Idaho contractor John Young, have bought seven acres of land in Rathdrum at the northwest corner of Park Wood Plaza, a planned 27-acre commercial development south of state Highway 53 near Lakeland High School, for a new Super 1 Foods outlet.


McIntire says the new store is being designed now. He hopes to hire a contractor this August and start construction on the project soon thereafter. The new 24-hour store, which will employ 155 people, is expected to open about a year from now.


McIntire says that he has been studying the rapidly growing Rathdrum market, which now has a population of about 3,500 people, for a couple of years to see whether it was ready for another grocery store.


The population increases have the city just about ready now, he says. By the time it opens, there should be enough people to support it.


The store will include a bakery, prescription-drug center, video-rental area, floral department, and a bank branch, McIntire says. He says Manito Super 1 hasnt reached an agreement yet with a bank that will open a branch in the new store.


Super 1 Foods was the first user to buy land at Park Wood Plaza, says Larry Clark, vice president of Rathdrum-based Park Wood Inc., which is developing the commercial center.


Clark says Park Wood has sold more land there since Super 1 Foods committed to the project, but he declines to name any other potential users.


Manito Super 1 Foods currently operates six supermarkets, one each in Coeur dAlene, Post Falls, and Hayden; and Kalispell, Hamilton, and Stevensville, Mont. It formerly owned the Manito Super 1 Foods store near 29th and Grand in Spokane.