Washington’s Lottery has opened a retail store in NorthTown Mall to sell tickets and also serve as the agency’s new regional office.

The retail store – located on the mall’s first floor between Winnie’s Hallmark and LensCrafters – opened Monday and is the first of its kind in the state for the agency, which inked a five-year lease for the 2,100-square-foot space.

The retail store provides an opportunity for Washington’s Lottery to grow its “Department of Imagination” brand, potentially host regional promotions and engage with lottery players, said Marcus Glasper, director of Washington’s Lottery.

“We had a regional office in Spokane for many years, but it has only been serving as a place where individuals can claim their prize,” Glasper said. “We have not had a space where we can engage with our players in a different way to provide more education about what the lottery does, who our profits benefit.”

The store would also provide “an opportunity to learn what our players expect and what kind of games they would be interested in,” he said.

Washington’s Lottery had considered the idea for a regional office and retail store for several years after seeing similar concepts gain traction in British Columbia. Additionally, the agency has smaller kiosks in a few malls in Western Washington that have been successful at engaging with lottery players, Glasper said.

“We thought this would be a great location and test spot to try this new concept out,” Glasper said. “The NorthTown Mall doesn’t currently have a retailer that sells lottery products. We felt that moving from our current location to a high-visibility area with more traffic, it would benefit us, the NorthTown Mall and our players.”

Three employees from the agency’s former regional office at 10517 E. Sprague Ave. in Spokane Valley have relocated to the new retail store, which is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Paramus, New Jersey-based Sargenti Architects and Canada-based Blake Jarrett & Co. designed the store. National Contractors Inc., of Excelsior, Minnesota, served as the project contractor.

Washington’s Lottery has generated more than $4.2 billion to support state programs since it was established in 1982.

https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2020/dec/22/washingtons-lottery-opens-first-retail-store-in-th/