Crown West Realty

Timberlake Forests Products, Book and Game Co. commit

Alison Boggs
Staff writer, Spokesman Review
July 28, 2004

Two new tenants will move into the Spokane Business and Industrial Park in Spokane Valley this fall, occupying a total of 50,000 square feet and creating about 40 new jobs.

Timberlake Forest Products will move into 40,000 square feet in October, hiring about 36 people, said company owner David Thompson. And the Book and Game Co., which operates Uncle’s games shops, will lease space for its warehouse and on-line operations in September, moving from the basement of the Liberty Building in downtown Spokane. Company President Hans Isaacson said the expansion likely will result in five new hires.

Timberlake hopes to be fully operational by October, making finger-jointed studs for the residential housing market, said Thompson, who graduated from Ferris High School and Washington State University, then moved to Seattle to work in general contracting.

“I was born and raised in Spokane and I’m tired of Seattle,” said Thompson, who is moving back after 14 years to start the new business.

Finger-jointed studs are made by purchasing the shorter pieces of wood discarded by lumber mills and gluing them together to make standard-length 2-by-4s or 2-by-6s. Thompson said the process is a way of conserving wood that’s extremely popular in other parts of the country, including Seattle. When the resulting studs are pressure-tested, Thompson said, the wood breaks before the joints do.

“It’s much stronger than the actual wood itself,” said Thompson, who anticipates hiring 36 or 37 people in the $8-$16 per hour range. He said he’ll be looking for industrial and manufacturing positions, plant workers and trained machinists and electricians.

Book and Game Co. has owned the Uncle’s game shops since 1999 and has outgrown its current warehouse and on-line facilities, Isaacson said. The company will move from 5,000 square feet in the basement of the Liberty Building downtown into 10,000 square feet at the park. The move will not affect the company’s three Uncle’s shops, in Auntie’s Bookstore downtown, at the Spokane Valley Mall, and in Redmond, Wash., Isaacson said.

The company is trying to make the move by Sept. 1 and anticipates hiring three people for the on-line operation and two people for the warehouse, Isaacson said.

Book and Game also is planning to change its name to Uncle’s Inc. in the near future and hopes to open additional game stores in the Seattle area, Isaacson said.