Papé Machinery closing its doors, closing business in Bonners Ferry

August 17, 2016

The Bonners Ferry office of Papé Machinery, which with its predecessor companies Sims Implement and North Columbia Equipment has served Boundary County agriculture for 66 years, will be closing its doors and its business in Bonners Ferry within a matter of weeks. The closing of the business was confirmed by Pat Walsh, spokesman for Papé Machinery. "The decision was not easy to make, and was purely based on the depressed economic agricultural climate in Northern Idaho," said Mr. Walsh. He said the business will close on September 1, or when the company's work is done at the end of the current harvest season. Mr. Walsh said that currently there are two employees at the Bonners Ferry branch of Papé Machinery's large regional collection of companies and locations. "Both have been offered and accepted opportunities to stay with Papé at our Ponderay location," he said. According to Bonners Ferry Mayor David Sims, his grandfather Ray Sims purchased the John Deere dealership in Bonners Ferry back in 1950. After the purchase, he changed the name of the company to Sims Implement, and sold farming and logging equipment. The Sims family opened a second location in Sandpoint in 1992, and between the two locations had over 30 employees. The Sims family operated the business until selling it in 1998 to Bill Felsted, who changed the name to North Columbia Equipment and operated it until selling it to Papé in November 2011. Mayor Sims commented on the closure of the business: "As mayor, I am disappointed with the closure of the business. In addition to providing jobs at the dealership, it helped support the agriculture economy that is so important to our county." It has been reported that rumors have been going around for some time that Papé Machinery would be closing in Bonners Ferry, and that in an effort to encourage the company to remain open, Boundary County commissioners sent a letter to the John Deere company, asking that efforts be made to keep the company going here. When asked about that, Papé's Mr. Walsh replied that "We have not seen a letter from the commissioners to John Deere." The Papé Group, with headquarters in Eugene, Oregon, had its start in 1938 as an equipment dealership. The company has expanded over the years both geographically and in its businesses and service lines. Today Papé is the parent group for several affiliated companies, including companies dealing in agricultural, construction, and forest machinery and equipment, Kenworth trucks sales, parts and service, materials handling equipment, drilling and excavating equipment, equipment rentals, and a company that specializes in design and configuration of warehouse storage and layout. Papé operates in Washington, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, California, and Nevada. It has locations in 68 cities, and over 2,300 employees. The company continues to be family-owned, with annual revenues reportedly running in the hundreds of millions dollar range.