Stratford Arby's closed for remodel

'Brand new restaurant' targeted to reopen in August

Hold your jamocha shakes and curly fries.

The Arby's located at 710 N. Stratford Road is closed until the middle of August for renovations.

"It's totally being redone inside," said Deb Ecret, manager of the location, Tuesday morning. "This is the last day for drive-through, and (we'll be) closed down until August 12."

Ecret said that the restaurant's owner has a variety of Arby's stores, and is in the process of cleaning them up. After Moses Lake will be the Arby's in Coeur D'Alene, she said.

Arby's district manager Joe Cosgrove said that the location at 2441 Maiers Road won't have any other major remodeling done, aside from some new awnings on the outside, because some work was already recently done there.

"This is one of the last stores in our company that doesn't have the new Arby's look yet and the pinnacle front, and this store has needed it for a very long time," said Deana Stephens, operations manager for the 12 Arby's in the area, based in Tri-Cities. "I think it helps generate more business in the community. I think it helps beautify our community and bring more employment to the area."

Stephens said seven new employees plus management would come in with the remodel, in anticipation of increased sales.

Another change awaiting the Stratford Road location will be Ecret's promotion to general manager, Cosgrove said.

"We were looking for a good assistant manager about a year ago," he said. Ecret came aboard about a year ago, he said, after working with a grocery store for about 17 years. "She's done an excellent job."

As for the remodeling, "we're totally rebuilding the outside, giving it a more current look," Cosgrove said. "Then we're remodeling the inside. (We're) gutting it, putting in new carpet, tiles, ceiling, booths, counters — from front to back, it will be like a brand new restaurant."

Cosgrove said that the target reopening date is August 14.

Stephens said that the remodel would actually be completed August 13, but that date falls on a Friday.

"Not that we're superstitious, but we don't need any bad luck," she said with a laugh.

"The store's probably about 20, 21 years old," Cosgrove said."It's in a nice area there, and we just want to look the best we can for the customers, give them a more pleasant environment to come in and eat."

"It'll be more efficient because we didn't have our pop machines out for access for customers," Ecret said. "Our service will be a lot faster and more productive."