The four Greenough brothers, Wilber D., Thomas L., Joseph W., and John B., earned a fortune in the Coeur d’Alene mines. They opened and operated a grocery store in Mullen, ID in 1898 and expanded the operation to Wallace, ID in 1906. Soon after, they sold their interests and opened a store in Spokane. In 1918 they introduced new marketing techniques, mass volume and self-service shopping. In 1929 they moved to a new site for parking convenience and became a super market, offering not only groceries and produce, but a beauty parlor, drug store, bakery, soda fountain, meat market, and a service station. When, in the 1970s, Interstate 90 cut through the district, the business suffered and finally closed in 1985.
From the guide to the Greenough's Grocery Records, 1906-1951, (Eastern Washington State Historical Society/Northwest Museum of Arts & Culture Joel E. Ferris Research Library and Archives)
