LA PINE – More than 50 jobs and La Pine’s first large corporate business are just a couple of the things a proposed Bi-Mart store might bring to the community.

A deal isn’t final, but the company has a site selected. Once Bi-Mart gets building permits from the county, it will take about four months before an empty dirt lot off Huntington Road just north of Bluewood Place becomes a 31,250-square-foot store.

Dick Hunsaker, director of real estate and construction for the Eugene-based company, said he hopes the store will be open in time for the holidays.

That would suit some La Pine residents just fine.

”I’m really looking forward to it,” said 68-year-old La Pine resident Hal Pavey. ”It will mean less trips to Bend and a little more competition locally.”

Don Leber, director of advertising for Bi-Mart Corp., said making sure La Pine residents take fewer trips to Bend is one of the goals.

”We know there are several thousand families in that area that have Bi-Mart cards,” he said. To shop at Bi-Mart, customers pay a one-time family membership fee of $5. Using those membership cards, the company is able to track customer buying patterns.

”We know they don’t have many options for shopping and that they’ve been driving into Bend,” Leber said. ”We also know that if people have the opportunity, they’ll shop in La Pine.”

La Pine is one of the oldest places in Central Oregon, with a median age at nearly 45. That’s a great market for Bi-Mart, which tends to attract older customers. The 2000 census showed about 25 percent of La Pine’s population at age 62 or older.

”The 55-plus crowd tends to gravitate to us because they are value-conscious shoppers,” Leber said.

Bi-Mart opened its Bend store in 1974 and now has outlets in Redmond, Madras and Prineville.

In addition to expanding the shopping options in La Pine, another big bonus for the community will be the jobs the store provides.

Leber said he expects the starting wage to be above minimum wage and go up from there depending on experience. In addition, most Bi-Mart employees are full time, which means they get medical, dental and vision insurance, a 401(k) retirement plan, and paid vacations and holidays.

The small mom-and-pop shops that make up most of the businesses in La Pine aren’t thrilled, though.

”It’s a fortunate thing for the community, but it’s an unfortunate thing for a lot of the small businesses in the community,” said Paul Jackson, the owner of Deschutes Fly and Tackle.

Businesses already are gearing up for the day when Bi-Mart opens its doors, re-examining their product lines and looking for niches to fill where Bi-Mart falls short.

”We have a lumber yard and related goods, so maybe we’ll end up focusing more on that,” said Steve Randol, manager and co-owner of Ace Hardware.

Meanwhile, Sandy Jordan, who owns Western Auto and Home Appliance with her husband, Gary, said she thinks it will be great for business. She’s been in business 25 years, and she has seen competitors come and go.

”When Montgomery Ward came in it was wonderful,” she said, ”because if people think your prices are high they can go somewhere else and find out that actually you’re not so expensive.”

Another concern of community members is that the money people spend in Bi-Mart won’t necessarily stay in the community.

”Basically, the money that people spend at the businesses in La Pine stays in this town,” said Jackson.