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BONNERS FERRY — The blacktop is poured, the windows are in and the work crew has moved inside to outfit the interior of the new Shopko Hometown store taking shape on Main Street. According to Beverly Vanderbilt, community relations specialist for the Shopko corporation, the store is on track to open its doors Oct, 2, with a grand opening scheduled for Oct. 14.

The Bonners Ferry Economic Development Council and the Urban Renewal District worked for nearly four years to bring the retailer to Bonners Ferry. Just last year, a Utah developer purchased the property on the town’s south hill and broke ground early in 2016.

“My predecessor, David Sims, worked over several years to get the land,” said Dennis Weed, director of the Bonners Ferry Economic Development Council. “The Urban Renewal Committee was also very instrumental in getting the land to build the store on.”

The new store will not be a full-sized retailer like shoppers encounter in larger urban centers. Instead, it will be a Hometown-style store, a version designed expressly for rural-based communities the size of Bonner’s Ferry, Weed said.

“This is a major upgrade in services that aren’t currently provided within the county. It will help us reduce our retail leakage to other areas like Bonner County,” he said.

Retail leakage means people leave the county to spend their consumer dollars. Before the new store opening, a basic lack of lower cost household goods, clothing andgarden products drive shoppers elsewhere. The new Shopko will help Boundary County retain the business of residents as well as the custom of Canadians who come south to shop.

“Soon, our Canadian friends will be able to find what they want in Boundary County,” Weed said.