Mountlake Terrace, Wash.-based Bekins Moving & Storage Co. plans to wind down its Spokane Valley operations during the next several months.

Meantime, American Van Service Inc., located at 7704 W Geiger Blvd. in Spokane, is negotiating with Bekins Northwest to take over the storage portion of Bekins' business, currently located in a warehouse at 1015 N Dyer, in Spokane Valley.

Jason Farrow, owner of American Van Service, says that if the companies come to terms, American Van Service will start moving all of the goods in the Bekins storage facility to its Geiger facility as early as next week and will seek to have all goods moved by the end of August.

Farrow says Bekins currently has in its storage facility about 500,000 pounds of goods, mostly household items. He says that once all of those goods are moved to American Van's 32,000-square-foot warehouse, that facility will be at about 90 percent capacity. Farrow says the warehouse is around 40 percent full currently.

Hester Harding, a Mountlake Terrace-based corporate administrator for Bekins, says the company opted to shut down its operation here rather than make needed improvements to the facility on Dyer. She also says Bekins isn't looking to relocate the business.

A press release about the closure issued by Bekins in mid-June said the office had to lay off seven full-time employees and several part-time employees. It said the company was ceasing operations here effective June 14, "with final closure anticipated to be within the next few months."

Harding says moving equipment such as vehicles and hand trucks will be dispersed to other Bekins branches.

Bekins Northwest has been in Spokane since 1929 and provides moving and storage services to households, offices, commercial businesses, the military and U.S. General Services Administration, as well as offering employee relocation assistance. The company also offers specialty service, such as furniture installation and senior relocation assistance.

Paul Bekins, director of operations and company owner, said in the June press release, "Our primary focus over the next few weeks will be to ensure a smooth transition for our local moving customers and to ensure that our storage customers can expect the same high levels of customer service they have always received."

In December 2010, Bekins' record-storage operations were acquired by DeVries Records Management Inc., a Spokane company that provides records management and storage to about 500 businesses in the Inland Northwest.

In addition to Mountlake Terrace, Bekins has operations in Tacoma, Pasco, and Yakima Wash., as well as an office in Colorado Springs, Colo. Bekins Moving & Storage Co. is an agent of Atlas World Group, Inc., based in Evansville, Ind.