“I have ants in my house,” a customer said as she approached Layla Gibford, general manager of Northwest Seed and Pet on Sprague Avenue.
As she walked to the ant control section of the chemical section, Gibford began asking questions about where the ants had appeared and what people had tried to get rid of them. After some discussion, Leila suggested an ant control product, explained what it did and how to use it. The customer accepted her explanation and headed to the cash register.
It's one of the daily encounters with customers at Northwest Seed and Pet, a long-established garden and pet supply store in Spokane. For generations, the store has been the place people go for information and products for their gardens and pets. This year marks 80 years of serving the community and a milestone year for the local family business as it moves into the next phase. Last July, another local family, Aubrey, Crystal and Darfus Moore, took over operations from Bob Mauk.
Northwest Seed began as a hardware store in 1944 in Harry Gross's home on the much quieter Sprague Avenue. When Ken and Frieda Hester took over Northwest Seed & Insecide in 1954, they added to Harry's house and eventually added pet supplies and animals to their inventory. The animal inventory included exotic animals such as chimpanzees, wallabies and caimans. When Hester's sons joined the business, the store's name was changed to Northwest Seed & Pet.
In 1983, they opened their North Division store to meet growing customer demand. In 2003, Mork, who joined the Northwest Seed staff in 1978, took over ownership from the Hester brothers. Mork has stayed on to help the Moore family with the ownership transition. Not only is the store family-owned and operated, but it also has several long-time employees, including Gibford, who work in the store as a mother-daughter duo.
“We want to provide the Spokane community with leadership in organic and conventional horticultural chemicals, soil amendments, seeds and pet supplies,” Aubrey Moore said.
She added that their overall goal is to support the local community and provide great customer service. In addition to stocking a diverse range of garden supplies, they purchase their plant inventory from local growers who know what grows well in our climate.
“We carry pet foods with minimal ingredients and specialty foods for animals with special dietary needs,” Moore said.
Our store also sells tropical fish, reptiles, pond supplies and plants, small animals and birds.
Now that the Moores are settled into running the store as owners, they are planning several events to celebrate the store's 80th anniversary, including a reptile expo and summer event on Aug. 3 and the Northwest Seed and Pet Fall Festival on Oct. 19, both of which will be held at the Sprague store. The Moores plan to soon add community workshops, a soil bar for repotting plants and events for kids to enjoy. For more information, visit their website at nwseed.com.
