Grocery shopping in and near CDA (Coeur d'Alene, Post Falls: sale, homes, to buy)

[Alphapha]

Hi I was wondering if people who live in CDA travel to WA to shop for groceries? I recently learned that ID charges sale tax on food items. Also, are the prices of food items in CDA comparable to Spokane grocery stores? Which do you prefer WA or CDA shopping?

Lastly, how is the small business climate in CDA? What would you say is the percentage of people that live and work full time in CDA versus own second homes there?

[lovecda]

I don't personally know anyone who travels to Washington for grocery shopping. Really, unless you are looking for something very specialized you can find what you need in Coeur d'Alene, and the prices are very similar, sometimes less expensive since Idaho's cost of labor is lower. Gas prices are definitely lower in CdA than in Spokane. Today the average gas price in Coeur d'Alene was $3.57 and the average price in Spokane was $3.73, according to GasBuddy. But you probably see more people crossing the border to buy gas in Idaho than you see crossing the border to buy groceries in Washington.

I go into Spokane once or twice per quarter, because I help out with an annual convention there and I head in for organizational meetings. But most everything I need is right here in Idaho. Other than things related to the convention and to attend Shock games, I've been into Spokane twice in the last two years. Once to get my laptop repaired at the Apple Store, and once to purchase an item for my business, because I'm not a fan of the CdA retailer for those products.

The small business climate is very dependent upon what you do. There are a ton of successful small businesses in the area, but the market does get over-saturated with some. Idaho is fairly consistently rated as a good place to own a business. There are lots of "mom & pop" type places along with the "usual suspects" big box stores/businesses. The biggest employers in the area are the Coeur d'Alene Resort, Kootenai Medical, the CdA school district and NIC. Tourism, medical and education are our three biggest employers overall, primarily because of those businesses.

If I had to guess at a number, I'd say that 90% of the population lives here full time. There are a good number of people who flee town when the snow starts to fly, but most people stay. As for how many people work here full time, that's a much harder number to guess. People flow pretty easily across the Idaho-Washington border for work and they go in both directions. Coeur d'Alene isn't a "bedroom community" by any stretch of the imagination, and we do have lots of people from Spokane, Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake heading over here to work.

You see a lot more people of the 2nd home variety in outlying areas and around the lakes than in or nearby the cities.

[Clark Fork Fantast]

There's a Trader Joe's in Spokane...

[brokencrayola]

There are plenty of grocery stores in CDA, including a Costco. Then they have Target, Shopko, Sears, JC Penneys, lots of store, no need to go to Spokane to do basic grocery shopping.

[Cdarocks]

I thought the OP was asking if people shopped in WA more due to the tax than availability of items. Anyone who lives in CDA will quickly learn the time and fuel spent to make a shopping specific trip to Spokane is not worth it at all.

However, there have been several times I have found myself in the Valley with my shopping list handy. I popped into Fred Meyer and saved myself a few bucks.

[brokencrayola]

Originally Posted by Cdarocks

I thought the OP was asking if people shopped in WA more due to the tax than availability of items. Anyone who lives in CDA will quickly learn the time and fuel spent to make a shopping specific trip to Spokane is not worth it at all.

However, there have been several times I have found myself in the Valley with my shopping list handy. I popped into Fred Meyer and saved myself a few bucks.

There is a Fred Meyer in CDA.

[elkotronics]

Don't forget that we have a Wal*Mart in Hayden (butted just north of CDA) and Post Falls, which is merely 4 miles west of Coeur d' Alene.

[rcnguyen]

I definitely don't bother going all the way to Spokane for grocery shopping. But I do go there for chicken feed.

Also, our health food store is pretty awesome. Spokane's health food store prices are a bit higher, and the selection is much more limited.

[Cdarocks]

Originally Posted by brokencrayola

There is a Fred Meyer in CDA.

Yes, there has been a Fred Meyer in CDA for a long time. My point was that I don't think a specific trip to WA for groceries to save on the tax makes any sense. However, I have been in the Valley many times for other reasons and popped into a grocery store, such as FM, and enjoyed saving the couple of dollars.

[cujo1950]

Love Super one, clean nice grocery store. I would rather support a northwest small chain than a nation wide big box.