Double D builds at Victory, Kuna

Idaho Business Review
12/20/2004

Double D Service Center, a supplier of pet and ranching supplies, is slated to move next summer from downtown Meridian to a building planned 3 miles south.

Construction of a 15,000-square-foot building began early this month on 2.5 acres at the northeast corner of Idaho 69 (Kuna-Meridian Road) and Victory Road.

The $2 million project for Double D will include a convenience store and fueling islands as well as more retail and warehouse space, said Brian Davis, manager and co-owner. Move-in is expected in mid-2005.

RSCI, of Meridian, is the general contractor on the project, designed by Cole + Poe Architects, Boise.

After Davis and his father, Double D founder and co-owner Dick Davis, relocate the business, they plan to raze their four buildings on the downtown Meridian site to make room for an office building, Brian Davis said.

In partnership with Boise-based Oaas Laney, the Davises plan to redevelop the 0.75-acre site, on the east side of Main Street south of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks.

Oaas Laney also is involved in configuring the Kuna-Meridian Road site.

The new Double D Home & Ranch building, which the business will lease-purchase from Oaas Laney, will have "more products, and more room to display them properly," Brian Davis said. "We need to grow our business. The opportunity came along, and we jumped on it."

Double D will be well positioned to serve a market segment that has fueled much of the company's growth - owners of home sites and 'ranchettes' from 1 to 5 acres, he said.

"That area needs what we are putting out there," he added.

While demand slowed immediately following 9-11, it has been generally strong for a dozen years, and the various competitors have developed market niches, he said. Double D sells power equipment such as chain saws, in addition to various pet supplies.

Double D is a Purina feed dealer, and area representatives of St. Louis-based Purina Mills helped the Meridian business design the planned convenience store, Davis said.

In the past, many Purina dealers were "Mom-and-Pop stores," he said. Purina Mills "wanted to get into more retail, selling other lines," he added, so the company developed the Purina Premier Services store concept. Davis and his father looked at Purina Premier Services stores at various U.S. locations.

"Several had fuel stations, and they have done very well," Brian Davis said. "And this is a dynamite location for it." A name for the C-store isn't finalized.

Dick Davis founded Double D about 30 years ago in Melba. He operated stores in Melba and Meridian for years, and eventually sold the Melba store to David Prow.

Davis acquired the current Meridian site, formerly Storey's Feed & Seed, about 18 years ago. The site includes a feed mill, retail building, small-engine shop and storage building.

Oaas Laney representatives could not be reached for comment on the office-building plan.

[top]