Ken Tuntland, owner of Spokane Valley grocery store Barney’s Harvest Foods, has opened an outlet of Chicago-based retailer-owned cooperative hardware chain True Value Co. inside the store, he says. 

Barney’s Harvest Foods, which operates under the corporate name of Barney’s Sooper Markets of Washington Inc., is located in a 33,000-square-foot building at 11205 E. Dishman-Mica Road. The new hardware section takes up about 4,500 square feet of space, Tuntland says.

 “It’s a complete True Value store; it has anything you would find in a regular hardware store,” Tuntland says. 

The True Value section doesn’t have a separate entrance or checkout, he says. 

“It’s a store within a store,” he says. “The main check stands take care of everything.”

Tuntland says it costs about $5,000 to become a co-op member of True Value. The company also has a few different store-opening programs, Tuntland says. He got what’s called a “free-opening inventory,” which means he receives the startup inventory for the store. 

“You have to have a certain amount of product to be what they call a True Value Hardware store,” he says. “It’s based on the square footage inside the store.”

Tuntland says he decided to add the hardware department to better compete with big box stores that offer a variety of products and services. 

“We had put one in our Pinehurst, Idaho, store about three years ago when the Wal-Mart opened down the road … and it really boosted sales,” he says. “Spokane has always been a tough market for groceries.”

A manager has been hired for the True Value section, Tuntland says. The store has 39 employees total and will add more as needed, he says.

“Once we get it up and running, we’ll hire whatever we need as we go,” he says. 

In the future, Tuntland says he’s considering adding an outdoor garden section to the store. 

“We may do something with outside the store for plants,” he says. “But right now we’re growing into it and whatever it needs, we’ll do.”

Harvest Foods has 36 stores in four states. Tuntland also owns a Harvest Foods store in Orofino, Idaho, in addition to the Spokane Valley and Pinehurst stores.