Variety and drug stores are the old souls of retail –at once nostalgic and entirely relevant. They carry better quality items than a dollar store and are less daunting than a big box store. They carry the items you need every day, the items you forget to pack, and the best gifts. They are the perfect place to get to know a community a little better. They are, often, the heart of our remote and rural communities.
On a recent trip north, Coulee Wall Variety Store was the perfect spot to start Christmas shopping. I stopped in with no notice, but on site was Launi Lockard, Store Manager and daughter to Mary Lou and Doug Lockard, who own the business and are always around working. Immediately my basket was filled with books, games, electronic doodads, and a couple necessities I wouldn’t have to make a separate trip for on the way home. No wonder I found something… Coulee Wall has 24 unique departments, a quirky sense of fun and constant seasonal updates!
The building where Coulee Wall lives has almost always been a variety store, originally called Vordahl’s, after the owners’ family name, and founded in the 1980’s. It was sold as a variety store a few different times over the years before a brief stint as a pizza parlor – hence the black and white checkered floors – sat empty for many years, opened again in the old tradition in the mid-00’s as The Variety Store, then closed ten years later, selling everything, including the shelving.
“The community had a really hard time with losing The Variety Store,” Launi said.
“Oh, I need to go get thumbtacks… but I can’t anymore… you know, just the little things,” Mary Lou added.
Frequenting the area to visit Launi, Mary Lou and Doug felt the loss of the business like the rest of the community. Curious and business-minded through their other endeavors, Mary Lou found an old shipping box from The Variety Store that had been left on a shelf, and looked up the supplier’s information on the internet.
“We didn’t know anything about retail – had never been in the retail business before,” Launi said, “but people were still needing the store.
“People were excited we were going to do it, but it fell through” the first time, Mary Lou said – there was even an article in the local paper about it. It was a year after this first attempt to re-start the business when the time was finally right for the family and the town. Mary Lou called the number again, this time to order their first shipment.
Coulee Wall keeps the spirit of the variety store alive by providing the residents of and around Electric City, Grand Coulee, Coulee Dam and surrounding communities, including the south end of the Colville Tribe Reservation, an alternative to driving the hour it takes to get to any other major retailer for everyday items, “Like the little filter things on the end of your facet,” Launi said.
You’ll find Coulee Wall Variety in Grand Coulee on Midway Ave., with Coulee Hardware on one side and Safeway on the other. Launi said they literally and figuratively fill that space, providing area residents everything you might need between hardware and groceries. “We fill in the gaps with suggestions from customers,” Launi said. They purposely only stocks items that does not compete with other businesses in the area, because, “Why?” It is this community focus from people to peers, that makes the store successful, beginning from their very first days loading in a store full of shelving, with the help of the community, followed by a truckload of 21 pallets of inventory, again with the help of the community.
Along with its own history, and all its everyday goods, Coulee Wall holds an additional piece of special, hyper-local history: the original Penny Press Machine from the Grand Coulee Dam Visitor Center. Stored in a series of damp and dusty basements around town for decades, when Doug got his hands on the machine it needed some refinishing and care. It is now completely refurnished and back on the international PennyCollector.com website*
Gifts and treasures I found recently at our local variety stores include: Grandpa Beck’s Games which are card-based games created in Washington, choose-your-own adventure books for toddlers and the full line of things to-put-your-pennies-in (for pressed pennies) at Coulee Wall Variety; some great baby toys at Ritzville Drug that I’ve never seen before and that my kiddo loves; and all the super cute kitchen wares at Odessa Drug.
Don’t just scroll through your holiday shopping. These stores hold the history of our region and stock really great items. They are worth visiting if you’re driving through, and they’re a great reason to go!
