Store fills up Whitefish Shopko building

Amy and Kirk Ericksen have big plans for their spacious new store in the former home of Shopko in Whitefish. Home Consignment and Auctions is their third store in two years, and they hope the new building will finally provide enough space for their ever-expanding inventory.

“We just were running out of room so we had to find another place,” Kirk said.

The business started as a horse supply store in downtown Whitefish, but when people wanted to use their storefront to sell their furniture, the consignment side of the business grew beyond anything the Ericksens had envisioned.

“We were selling saddles and tack, but people were wishing to consign dining tables and couches, and those sold right away,” Kirk recalled.

They expanded into the suite next door to a 1,000-square-foot space, then moved into a new 2,400-square-foot building behind Ace Hardware, but none of these expansions could contain all of their consignment items.

“We filled that up instantly,” Amy said of their second, larger store. “It just kept growing and growing. We ran out of space there.”

While the shell of Shopko, located at Mountain Mall on U.S. 92 in Whitefish, has been empty since the box store closed earlier this year, in part because of its daunting size, the 40,000-square-foot store was perfect for the Ericksens’ growing business. They hauled all of their pieces — including tables, couches, chairs, rugs and sculptures — to the former Shopko space on Sept. 12 and opened two days later.

“We hit the ground running,” Amy said.

Business is booming, simply because they feel they have found the right place. “We just have found a niche,” Amy added.

“Being here in Whitefish, we get a lot of people just moving in who want cool, unique pieces, who don’t want to pay full retail prices,” she said. She believes the area’s reputation as a growing community and a destination for second-home buyers brings a lot of customers to the store, and their diverse, unique inventory keeps them coming back.

“We’re trying to service a lot of different consigners to offer a one-stop shop for a lot of different products,” she said. “It’s looking like we could be a solution for a lot of people in the Flathead.”

More than 500 consigners now sell their items at Home Consignment and Auctions. Amy works constantly to bring interesting new clients into the fold.

“Amy’s out hustling all the time,” Kirk observed.

Their products range from modern American furniture, to local artwork, to one-of-a-kind European antiques.

“We get a full range of prices here that can accommodate a lot of people … We want everybody who walks in the door to be able to afford something,” Amy said.

She explained consignment helps by “offering product to people who want good quality furniture at a very fair price.” She added that consignment has a range of benefits, for sellers who are downsizing, artists without their own stores and the environment.

“Nothing goes to waste here if we can help it,” she said.

She urges people who no longer want their furniture, “Please bring it to us. We’ll find a home for it. Don’t throw it out.”

This conscientious mentality is part of the Erickens’ overall focus on using their business to benefit the community. “It’s very important for us to be part of the community,” Amy emphasized.

They want to help customers and clients have an enjoyable experience by offering U-haul rentals in-store for people to bring their large pieces in and out, and they will soon simplify the sales process with radio-frequency identification technology to quickly identify every item in the store.

After the holidays, they also want to open up a classroom, conference room and gallery space for programs such as Whitefish Rocks, which Amy started for school children to do art projects with rocks and leave them around the Whitefish community.

They hope the flow of traffic into the rejuvenated store helps boost the entire shopping center and the south Kalispell landscape as a whole. “We’re helping to revitalize the Mountain Mall,” Kirk pointed out. “We hope it helps everybody.”

Home Consignment and Auctions is located at 6475 U.S. 93 S. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week.

Reporter Bret Anne Serbin may be reached at bserbin@dailyinterlake.com or 758-4459.