Liberty Lake-based R'nR RV Center, a prominent Eastern Washington new and used recreational-vehicle and truck-camper sales and service concern, has put its name on the Airway Heights dealership it bought a few years ago—and claims sales are increasing steadily after a recession-related dip that started in 2008.

Jerry Wagner, who has been involved in sales at R'nR RV Center for 21 years, is now general manager at both locations.

The Airway Heights R'nR RV Center is located on 7 acres of land at the former Blue Creek RV site, at 13913 W. Sunset Highway, where its sales and service structure occupies 10,000 square feet of space. R'nR RV Center bought Blue Creek RV in 2008 and until recently had been operating it under that name.

The dealership's flagship location, at 23203 E. Knox, in Liberty Lake, is located on 15 acres of land and includes sales and service buildings with a combined total of about 68,000 square feet of space, making it one of the largest RV sales and service locations in the West, Wagner claims.

R'nR RV employs a combined total of 130 people at both locations, up from about 104 employees in the summer of 2008.

Wagner says 2011 sales rose 8 percent compared with sales in 2010, and he expects another increase of 8 percent to 10 percent this year.

"We had the lowest drop four years ago, and we've been slowly growing back up," he says. "This is camping country, and RVers have been out there in full force."

Having one location highly visible from Interstate 90 east of Spokane and another on the Sunset Highway west of Spokane places R'nR RV on two main travel routes, Wagner says. "We get a lot of people stopping in from other states," he says.

The dealership's new models are made by several manufacturers, including Fleetwood, Winnebago, Forest River, Roadtrek, Keystone, Montana, Cougar, Heartland, and Adventurer.

The travel-trailer market is growing, Wagner says. Towable RVs tend to be less expensive than motorhomes, and a good portion of those buyers, who tend to be younger than motorhome buyers, pulled back during the recession, Wagner says.

"Over the last year, they seem to be coming back," he says, adding, "First-time motorhome buyers, who tend to buy entry and mid-level motorhomes, also are coming back fairly strongly."

Ray and Jo Bunney, of Liberty Lake, own R'nR RV Center.