White Elephant in Spokane in the early-mid '80s was an overstocked chit hole of toys, guns, sporting goods, and fishing stuff too. They got alot of their inventory buying up other sporting stores that were going TU over the years, so you never knew what they'd have crammed in their 2 stores. At times we'd hit the jackpot and get spin-n-glo's in the 100ct round plastic containers for $1-5 (size #14-8 in good colors), or corkies for the same price. Pound of pencil lead for $1, spools of Maxima 3/$10. Just fantastic deals.
Going or coming back from an OP trip during the same timeframe; if Swain's in PA was open, their Sporting Goods section was another one that could have a good sale or new "bobber colors" that we hadn't seen on the Eastside. Plus we grab whatever we'd forgotten to pack for our long weekend trip. Back then, Forks really rolled the sidewalks up after 9pm except out at the Smokehouse.
Swains for sure but you really brought back memories mentioning the White Elephant. Wasn't that on North Division? Anyway, was attending WSU 1965-70 and spending a lot of my Fall days hunting (dead critters went into the Entomology freezer thanks to Howie Mizuta). Bought some good stuff to support that hunting habit at the White Elephant while in Spokane with my roommate attending hockey games. Also bought a lot of ammo in Lewiston. Yes, I did graduate and it helped running into professors down on the breaks with a shotgun in their hands.
Locally, there was Thompson's Sporting Goods in Tacoma which is gone. Sportco is more than just a tackle shop but still has some of the atmosphere. There was Ed's Surplus in Lynnwood now closed and Ted's in north Lynnwood which I have heard is closed or closing (hard to buy anything in there because he had it so full of good stuff).
Moving on up to Everett can't forget John's Sporting Goods - good selection and folks know their stuff. They also do repairs on downriggers and other equipment (but not old Penns sad to say). Hope that they can hang on until things turn around.
I did wander into a couple of great sport shops in Prince Rupert but that is a bit of a trip.
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