YAKIMA, Wash. -- There’s chatter going around about Big Lots, a retailer that sells discounted and overproduced goods from manufacturers, coming to Yakima.

There’s speculation that the retailer is looking at the former Food Pavilion space at the Gateway Shopping Center.

At this point, it’s just speculation.

But Wallace Properties, a Bellevue real estate firm that owns the shopping center off Interstate 82 at North Fair Avenue, is working on a deal for that space.

“We’re certainly optimistic about getting a new tenant in there,” president Kevin Wallace said.

Wallace said he’s not at liberty to discuss the retailer’s identity.

The space has been vacant since 2007 when Brown & Cole Stores (now The Markets LLC) closed Food Pavilion after it filed for bankruptcy protection. It closed the Yakima store after several unprofitable years.
 
-- Mai Hoang

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