Some recreational vehicle dealers here say they’re expanding their lots and inventory as the overall industry is looking to reach prerecession levels of sales.

Camping World Inc., the Bowling Green, Ky.-based recreational vehicle and camping supplier, plans to expand its parking area on 5 acres of land the company bought recently on the east side of the Camping World of Spokane dealership lot in Liberty Lake, says Brian Robbins, general manager of the dealership.

The expansion will enable Camping World of Spokane to stock another $3 million in RV inventory at the dealership, which is roughly an additional 40 percent of inventory, Robbins says.

The project also will include constructing a 10-bay service addition that will more than double the covered service capacity at the dealership, located at 19651 E. Cataldo, in Liberty Lake, he says.

Construction will start this month, Robbins says.

Camping World of Spokane has 42 employees, and Robbins says the dealership likely will add 20 employees due to the expansion.

Robbins says March was the biggest sales month to date for Camping World of Spokane, which is early in the year for record sales.

“Our last biggest month was last June,” he says.

Robbins says he’s seen a trend in younger people buying RVs, especially towable units that now make up more than 85 percent of total RV sales.

When he started in the business 30 years ago, retirees made up the largest segment of RV buyers, Robbins says. Now the 35-to-45 age group is the fastest growing segment of buyers, he says. 

“Our trailer line hits that niche for the quality and affordability of it,” Robbins says.

Camping World opened the Liberty Lake dealership in 2012 at the 6-acre former site of a MasterCraft boat dealership. Sales have grown steadily since then, Robbins says.

“That’s what facilitated our expansion,” he says. “We outgrew our facility.”

RRC Contractors Inc., of Nampa, Idaho, is the contractor on the expansion project, which is expected to be completed by fall, and JGT Architecture PA, also of Nampa, designed it. Whipple Consulting Engineers Inc., of Spokane Valley, provided engineering services.

Robbins declines to disclose the value of the project.

On the other side of Interstate 90 in Liberty Lake, R’nR RV Center has expanded its sales and service lot by 3 acres on the west side of the 20-acre dealership site, at 23203 E. Knox.

Part of the lot expansion will increase storage space to accommodate the service department, says Jerry Wagner, general manager at R’nR RV.

“We have two 20-bay service buildings, so we do an enormous amount of service work, and it takes a fair amount of space to store service rigs,” Wagner says.

Josh Skiles, a lot attendant at R’nR RV, says the dealership maintains a fleet of 18 electric golf carts to transport employees and customers around the expansive lot.

With brisk early season sales, new rigs are moving onto the lot to replace sold inventory almost daily, Skiles says.

Wagner also says R’nR RV is seeing strong sales in the first quarter of this year, and annual sales have been trending upward since the recession.

“Since the economy fell off in 2008 and 2009, the industry has pretty much rebounded and has been increasing every year by 8 to 10 percent in sales,” he says.

Wagner also notes that dealers didn’t leave the market here during the recession, meaning there’s no lack of competition.

“In this market, there’s more dealers than there ever has been,” Wagner says. “There’s more competition here because the Northwest is camping country. With all the lakes and campground facilities, we have more people making use of it.”

R’nR RV also operates dealerships in Airway Heights and in the Lewiston-Clarkston area.

A few miles to the east, on the North Idaho section of the I-90 corridor, Blue Dog RV is expanding the lot at its flagship location at 714 W. Seltice Way in Post Falls, says John Asplund, who co-owns the business with his wife, Rebecca.

In a project currently under way, Blue Dog will expand onto 6 acres of land on the west side of the dealership, he says.

“It gives us more room to display what we have,” Asplund says. He says the service area at the Post Falls dealership has expanded with the overall business growth there. 

“What used to be a sales lot is turning into a service lot on the east side,” he says.

The overall industry is expecting a 7 percent increase in annual sales this year, Asplund says, adding, “I always want to do a little better.”

Nationally, RV wholesale shipments have been on the rise every year for the last five years, according to the Recreational Vehicle Industry Association, a Reston, Va.-based manufacturers’ trade group.

RV shipments to dealers totaled 368,000 units 2014, up 11 percent from a year earlier, and more than double the Great Recession-related low of 167,000 units shipped in 2009.

This year is off to a strong start, RIVA reports. For January and February, total shipments were up 7 percent compared with the first two months of 2014. 

Asplund says the Inland Northwest always has been a strong market for RV sales, even during the Great Recession.

“It never got quite as down as some other markets with major real estate issues, like California, Nevada, and Arizona,” he says.

Most dealers here survived the recession, Asplund says.

“There’s a lot of competition in town,” he says. “None of the RV dealers closed shop, and a couple of others have opened.”

On the Washington side of the border, the Asplunds own Spokane Valley RV, at 19117 E. Broadway. 

“We’ve been there about a year,” Asplund says of Spokane Valley RV. “It’s competitive, but I think we’re getting a fair share of sales.”

The Asplunds recently bought the 2-acre lot that the dealership occupies.

Blue Dog also has operations in Coeur d’Alene, Hayden, Kennewick, Pasco, and Portland.