Craig Stein Beverage acquiring Click, merging with Odom Corporation

Clark County-based Craig Stein Beverage is slated to buy a competing beer and wine distributor before merging with another, forming a new “powerhouse in the Pacific Northwest,” the company said in a statement.

The company, which also goes by the name CSB, will merge with Bellevue-based distributor The Odom Corporation to form Northwest Beverages, LLC. The new entity will be equally owned and represent wines, spirits and beers from the region.

In addition to the merger, CSB will buy Click Wholesale Distributing, a Washington-based distributor with operations in Renton, Spokane and western Idaho. Those operations will reportedly continue to run independently.

“It took me two years to put this together, so it’s very exciting to us. It gives us an opportunity to continue our growth and continues an opportunity to participate in the Seattle market,” owner Craig Stein said. “Instead of going into Seattle from scratch we’re buying a business with a great reputation in the market. It’s a lot easier to buy them than build something you cobble together over the years. We’re very excited about it.”

Craig Stein Beverage Group,5408 N.E. 88th St., Suite B101, Vancouver, formed in 1990 when Stein purchased Cascade Distributing, which employed 11 people at the time. Today, it has branches in Vancouver, Boise and Sun Valley, Idaho, and in Nyssa, Ore.

The company has completed 23 acquisitions since then. Stein said this is the largest. CSB employs 450 people and expects to add 200 workers through the merger.

“To get to 650, that’s pretty good growth,” Stein said.

Employees and headquarters will stay there they are, Stein said. Workers will retain their current positions and wages. Click and The Odom Corporation will consolidate some systems.

CSB’s location in Clark County will remain unchanged.

The wholesale trading sector has grown by 30 percent since 2010 and employs 6,600 people in Clark County today, according to the Washington Employment Security Department.

The deal will finalize March 31.