Spokane-based building-supply chain Ziegler Lumber Co. says it will close its 45-year-old, original retail store on North Market Street this month to make room for the North Spokane Corridor project.

Company founder Vern Ziegler says he decided to include the impending closure in the company's business plan years ago.

"Part of surviving in this business is the ability to plan for big changes," says Ziegler.

Today, the company operates seven Ziggy's retail outlets and other divisions that handle pole-building construction, shed-kit sales and assembly, door manufacturing, and wholesale lumber sales. The store, at 4220 N. Market, though, is scheduled to close on Nov. 20.

"The freeway is taking out that real estate," Ziegler says.

He says he's known for almost a decade that the company eventually would have to close the store to clear the way for the freeway construction, and the company convinced the Washington state Department of Transportation early on to buy the property. "We sold to the Department of Transportation in 2002 and leased it back," he says.

That gave the company time to plan for the store's closure. DOT issued its formal notice on May 28 for Ziegler Lumber to vacate the property by year-end.

"After Nov. 20, the only work there will be in-house, getting the rest of the stuff cleaned out and signs down to meet our responsibilities to turn it over by Dec. 31," Ziegler says.

Zeigler Lumber moved its corporate offices from the North Market location to its Northpointe store, at 620 E. Holland, in 2003. Those offices take up 12,000 square feet of space in the 100,000-square-foot building, he says. The Northpointe store, which was built in 1993, is the largest Ziggy's outlet.

Meantime, DOT occupies about 7,200 square feet of office space at the North Market location, and Ziggy's occupies the other 66,000 square feet of retail space.

Also in 2002, DOT bought the original site of Ziegler Lumber's wholesale division, Big Bear Lumber, at 5820 N. Market, he says. The state agency took over that property then and has razed those buildings, Ziegler says, adding, "We're told the department will raze the North Market store right after the first of the year."

Big Bear Lumber now is based at the Ziggy's location on State Route 41 in Post Falls, he says.

Based on a customer survey, Zeigler says the company estimates it will retain 80 percent of its North Market retail customers at other Ziggy's stores.

"There's not a lot of consumer options in that area," he says. "We feel we can induce North Market customers to use the Valley and Northpointe stores."

The Spokane Valley Ziggy's outlet is located at 17002 E. Sprague.

Ziegler says the company hopes to move its North Market staff of 26 people to other Ziggy's stores.

"We hope to keep them all, if the customer movement is successful," he says.

The North Market store will beef up its staff while an inventory-clearance sale is under way, he says. "We're supplementing that store with a few employees from other locations," Ziegler says.

Overall, Ziegler Lumber Co. has about 200 employees, he says.

Ziegler says the freeway "definitely is a good project" and could be a catalyst for development along the corridor.

"In the first part of 2012, when that section opens up, it will improve traffic flow through Spokane," he says. "It's just too bad it takes so long to put it though."

The freeway ultimately will stretch some 10 miles between Interstate 90, near the Thor-Freya exit, and U.S. 395 near Wandermere Golf Course.

Ziegler says he didn't allow emotional attachment to the original store to affect the company's business decisions.

"There's a little bit of nostalgia," he says. "My father taught me at a very young age that you can't worry about things you can't do anything about."

While Ziegler says the company's total sales have declined during the recession, the do-it-yourself home-improvement market has remained stable.

"We're not as dependent on one customer base like the builder market," he says. "We haven't been hurt as bad, and the consumer part of our business has held up better."

Also, the company has continued to diversify by expanding its presence in the shed-kit and pole-building markets, Ziegler says.

"The only thing consistent about this business is change," he says. "The trick is to plan for it. You always have to change and modernize."

Some things are cast in concrete, though, such as the handprints his sons impressed in wet cement in front of the North Market store in 1965, the year it opened. "I expect to cut that section of concrete out and save it," he says.

The family-owned company has no plans to close any of its other operations, Ziegler says.

The company's other retail outlets are in Moses Lake, Wash., and Hayden and Lewiston, Idaho.