When Bi-Mart opened its new, 31,000-square-foot store in Prineville two weeks ago, it was standing room only.

Residents crowded the aisles, fingering sporting goods and picking up bargains on home electronics and small appliances.

Bi-Mart has been a Central Oregon success story since it opened its Bend store in 1974. Now with outlets in Redmond, Madras and Prineville, the chain continues to meet a demand for neighborhood stores full of everyday items at a discount.

”Our mix of goods, our basic layouts that’s what makes us successful.”

”We carry the same philosophy into all our stores,” said Don Leber, director of advertising for Eugene-based Bi-Mart Corporation.

Bi-Mart doesn’t spend a lot of money on fixtures and fancy displays all of its newly built stores have concrete floors, basic florescent lighting and open-beam ceilings, Leber said.

”We’re a warehouse-style format with traditional retail fixtures,” Leber said. ”That way, we can sell large volume at low costs.”

But the variety retailer also appeals to buyers because of convenience and the pressures that family, work and lifestyles place on patrons’ time, Leber said.

”Look at today’s shopping habits. People are driven by a lack of time.”

”People like to shop in their neighborhoods for items they need every day,” he said.

That’s why Bi-Mart places stores in communities smaller than those targeted by giant retailers like Wal-Mart.

”With our size store, we can put one store in each community rather than have one large store in the major market,” he said.

Leber said Bi-Mart is a good fit with Central Oregon because of its sporting goods and outdoor supplies.

Bend Chamber of Commerce Director Gary Peters attributes part of Bi-Mart’s success to stores’ community feel.

”We think of Bi-Marts as being more local than part of a chain,” he said.

And Bi-Mart continues to open new stores in Oregon and Washington one a month so far this year, as a new one opens this week in Washougal, Wash. That will bring the chain to 56 stores in the Northwest.

Bi-Mart started in 1955 as a membership-based cooperative in Yakima, Wash. In 1976, Pay’n Save Corp. bought the 13-chain store. After several corporate mergers and acquisitions, in 1996 Bi-Mart became part of the Rite Aid Corp.

But Bi-Mart senior executives bought the chain back, making it once more a private Northwest company.

Leber said Bi-Mart maintained its profitability and identity through those years because of the longevity of the senior managers and the consistency of the chain.

”We haven’t tried to change what we are or who we are,” he said.”

It continues to be membership-based not because that makes a profit for the company but because memberships develop a link with communities, Leber said.

At $5 for a lifetime membership, Bi-Mart cards aren’t expensive. But they allow the company to target advertising directly to the customer through monthly mailing. They also develop other links with the community Bi-Mart cards can be used for discounts on community events, goods and services at other businesses.