New Store Prompts Lodgepole Pack?ing

Work began in early July on the new building for the Pack Rat Outdoor Center at the corner of Gregg Avenue and Sunbridge Drive in Fayetteville. A dozen trucks arrived at the site, hauling a total of 300 tons of lodgepole pine logs up to 30 feet long.

The two-story, 15,000-SF structure is scheduled to be completed by February. It’s being assembled by Hostetler Custom Homes of Berryville for Kootenai Log Homes.

Scott Crook, owner of the 28-year-old outdoor clothing and equipment store, wants to make sure people know that he’s environmentally conscious. None of the tress was killed for the construction. All of them were killed by forest fires or disease and were salvaged from forests in northwest Montana. Kootenai allows the logs to dry out for several years before they are used in construction.

“We are using a resource that would have been wasted,” Crook said. “Fire kills the tree, but it doesn’t really touch the hardwood.”

Some of the timbers still have scorch marks from forest fires, but Crook said those may be shaved off before they are used for the walls of the new store.

Crook said he spent $235,000 for the 3-acre lot. He borrowed $1.3 million for the construction and plans to invest another $100,000 for a total of about $1.6 million.

Crook said he plans to have a small pond on the site to use for testing canoes and kayaks. A walking path also is planned for the wooded area of the lot.

Crook said he plans to lease 1,600 SF of space at the new store to another business, possibly a fly fishing store.

The Pack Rat is currently located in a 6,000-SF building that Crook owns at the corner of Township Road and Green Acres Road.

Despite increased competition, Crook said, 2000 was the best year in the Pack Rat with sales of $1.25 million (a 2 percent increase over 1999). Crook said profits more than doubled in 2000.