Pool World Inc., a longtime Spokane Valley-based swimming pool contractor and multistore retailer, says it has bought a building about a half-mile east of its 4808 E. Sprague store and plans to move that outlet there in January.

The newly acquired 10,800-square-foot building, at 5701 E. Sprague, earlier had housed the Dick's Suzuki Inc. motorsports dealership for a number of years. It will replace Pool World's smaller, leased quarters at 4808 E. Sprague, says Mark Henderson, the company's general manager.

Pool World carries the Watkins line of spas and sells pool- and spa-care products at its four retail stores, as well as water toys and accessories, barbecue grills, patio heaters, outdoor furniture, saunas, and tanning beds, Henderson says.

The company employs 60 to 70 people, depending on the season, he says.

The contractor side of the company has installed more than 1,250 commercial and residential pools in the Inland Northwest, including pools in the Davenport Hotel Tower, the Spokane County Northside Family Aquatic Facility, and the Spokane Valley YMCA, and for the city of Spokane Valley, Henderson says.

Pool World currently is installing pool facilities at the Coeur d'Alene Casino Resort Hotel, near Worley, Idaho, he says.

Pool World also operates a service department that offers, maintenance, repair, and renovation of commercial and residential swimming pools and spas, Henderson says.

Henderson's parents, Kerry and Lyla Henderson, founded Pool World and opened its flagship store in 1976 at 13524 E. Sprague, also in Spokane Valley. The company's other locations are on Spokane's North Side at 9111 N. Country Homes Blvd. and in Coeur d'Alene at 234 W. Sunset.