Liquidation World looking for employees

by Matthew Weaver<br>Herald Staff Writer
| March 8, 2006 8:00 PM

New location in old Kmart building to open in April

MOSES LAKE — Help wanted signs put up Tuesday along Stratford Road and outside the old Kmart building tell the whole story.

Liquidation World is in the process of renting half of the space inside the location at 1020 N. Stratford Road, and its district manager said the store will probably open the first week in April. Potential tenants for the other half of the building have not been officially announced.

District manager Jerry Voeller said the

company, based out of Calgary, Alberta, Canada, is looking for expansion throughout the state. The 20-year-old company has 110 stores, 18 of which are in the United States in locations in Idaho, Montana and Alaska.

"We've been trying to get into that area for some time," Voeller said, noting that Liquidation World also has locations in Spokane, Seattle and the Tri-Cities, and recently opened in another former Kmart location in Sandpoint. "It's been a good opportunity for us, we looked at the demographics and figured that there's no other stores like us close by … Lo and behold, a deal worked out and we're processing."

The new location in Moses Lake signals a homecoming for the new store's manager, Kim DeKorte, formerly an assistant manager at the Coeur d'Alene Liquidation World location: She was born in Moses Lake. DeKorte actually suggested the Moses Lake location to Voeller.

"I know that Liquidation World was kind of looking in this area, and they had been interested in a store here," DeKorte said. "I knew this building had been vacant for a long time, so I just suggested that maybe it would work out. Everybody likes something different, and Liquidation World is definitely an adventure in shopping."

DeKorte said she had only seriously been considering a move back to her birthplace in the last year, and said Moses Lake is smaller than Coeur d'Alene, but similar to what it used to be.

"I see it growing in good ways … " she said. "I think it's going to be fun to be back home."

As opposed to regular retailers, Liquidation World gets its goods from bankruptcies, receiverships, people going out of business, changing of packages, buybacks and primarily insurance claims, Voeller explained, calling it "an opportunistic company only on opportunities." The company does not buy from manufacturers.

The store offers anything but live stock, Voeller said, including furniture, sporting goods, food, houseware, hardware, giftware, health and beauty and clothing.

"What's here today may be gone tomorrow," Voeller said. Occasionally customers who have seen a product one day will come in asking after it the next day, only to be told it's been sold. "We never tell someone we don't have something, it might come in tomorrow. That's the fun part."

The store will initially hire about 20 people.