Businesses on the move in Thompson Falls

Along with many of the changes happening in the year 2020, one may be an exciting shift for a local business and Thompson Falls locals. Big Bull Sports, an outdoor gear shop will be moving to downtown Thompson Falls. Now located off Highway 200 between Thompson Falls and Trout Creek, the store will be taking over the former Realty Northwest building, which before that was a bank.

Realty Northwest has shuffled down, next to the Rex Theater.

The owner of Big Bull Sports, Tom Kirkland, bought the business in 2015. He has worked to bring locals quality, affordable gear ever since. He thinks that moving into town will be a good move to promote more foot traffic, as well as to be closer for him and his family. He also says that the location will be a better investment, as property on Main Street is always at a higher premium.

Having moved out of the building, Realty Northwest, owned by Gail Enger, lists properties throughout Sanders County. Enger bought the old bank building in 2005, at the same time she bought the reality business from her daughter. Her company used to be large land specialists for Plum Creek and covered several surrounding counties like Lincoln and Flathead, but since all that land sold, she started working properties solely in the immediate area of Sanders County. When asked why she moved buildings, she said, "I want to slow down and peel some of my responsibilities off." She also said that she did not need all the space. Realty Northwest is now located in the building to the left of the Rex.

The old bank is two stories, and even has three large room-sized safes in it. Kirkland plans to utilize these safes in the floor design of his new store location. He wants to feature the history of the building, which was constructed in 1912 and remained a bank until 1983. Kirkland said that he foresees the customer base possibly changing but said that they will adjust. He suggests that he may get more of the seasonal traffic and may sell more items like t-shirts. His business also sells hunting tags and licenses, and may provide a closer, more central location for locals to purchase those.

Before owning Big Bull Sports, Kirkland was an equipment operator for a power company. Since then, he moved to the area he loved and found Big Bull Sports more his speed of business. Big Bull Sports plans on opening in their new location in early April. However, Kirkland still has a lot of work to do on the building to get it where he needs it to be. The sporting goods store will be closing the first of the year to enact these building plans.