AIRWAY HEIGHTS — It took a couple tries, but the fourth and newest location of discount furniture store 16 Cents, 3 Shoes & 5 Socks has been open for business this summer at its Sunset Highway digs.
The store held a grand opening March 21, but had to shut down within a week after its sewer company cut its line off and the COVID-19 business shutdowns began.
When Spokane County entered Phase 2 of the state’s re-opening plan the second week of May, the store re-opened while following CDC guidelines and has remained in business since.
The Sunset Highway store is managed by Allen Ver Hage, who has been with the company for three years. All four locations (the other three are in Spokane and Spokane Valley) are owned by Jason McSteen, who started the company in 2014. General manager Don Griffith joined in 2015 and oversees all four stores.
According to the company website, the store got its name from McSteen’s experience with Union Gospel Mission, where he walked in with 16 cents, three shoes and five socks before turning his luck around and starting the business through the help he received there.
Griffith said business on Sunset Highway has been “good, but out here it’s up and down.”
“People are coming in (and) finding out that we are here,” Griffith said. “A lot of people know us because they follow us on our Facebook (page).”
Ver Hage said that the shutdown has made it difficult to help nonprofits like the Spokane locations have done, but the store has still tried to find ways to engage with the community.
“(Customers) like the fact that they don’t have to go into Spokane in order to pick things up,” Ver Hage said. “Some people come by going to Copy Junction, they’re not busy for the day and they want to hang out and visit a nice little local store.”
Mattresses, couches, shelves and other living and bedroom goods fill the store, which shares a company-renovated building with Copy Junction. Home décor, such as themed signs and pillows, are sprinkled throughout the store to accent the larger materials.
“Our mattresses are made in Twin Falls, Idaho,” Ver Hage said. “We do some bedding, but mainly mattresses, and then living room, bedroom and dining room furniture.”
Griffith said the company has been hoping to start an Airway Heights location for six years, and has to expand further. He hopes for locations that spread east, toward Spokane Valley and into North Idaho.
The company offers various financing programs, with no credit needed, as stated on its website.
“We’re simply here to figure out what your problem is and see if we have a solution,” Ver Hage said.
Drew Lawson can be reached at [email protected].
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