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Pay'N Pack Expands

Pay 'N Pack, a Kent, Wa., based home center chain with stores in 3l Western states including Alaska, is in the midst of a program of remodeling and expansion.

Remodeling has been completed at 39 stores with an additional 25 to be completed by Nov. I and the balance by the end of the year. Five to seven stores will be opened during this same period with the l00th store due to open in Chico, Ca., this summer. Other new stores are slated for Seattle, Salt Lake city and Modesto, ca., with a replacement store for Eugene, Or.

The chain, which acquired the Bonanza Home Center units in the San Francisco Bay area earlier this year, expects to concentrate in that region with as many as 20 stores. A northern California warehouse will be part of the expansion.

The current expansion and updating is a result of replacing sporting goods and automotive products with lumber and building supplies in I I of Pay'N Pack's largest stores last year. Bolstered by the dollar success of this experiment, management is refurbishing stores with more of a warehouse-like look including 66" high gondolas in the front of the stores with 84" gondola heights in the rear.

Smaller stores will concentrate on the 84" shelving for extra space while all units will increase pegboard displays by about one{hird. More products will be stocked directlv on the floor.

Housing Prices Stay High

Although the median sales price of new housing in the West has dropped in the past year, existing home prices continue higher withthe median sales price being significantly higher than that of new homes.

Caused by the strong demand for housing in the West, this situation does not exist in other regions. In 1982 the median price of new houses nationally was $69,300, virtually unchanged from 1981, but $74,900 in the West, a drop from $77,800 in 1981.

Median sales price of existing homes in the West rose from $96,200 to $98,900 in the same period while nationally the median housing sales price shifted from $66,400 to $67,800.