Dumpster alert: Old downtown Inkley's store being gutted

The owners of the Farmers and Merchants Bank building in downtown Idaho Falls are gutting the innards in hopes that it might present more possibilities to prospective buyers.

Any time there's a dumpster filling up with trash outside a commercial building, our natural inclination is to find out what's up.

While there is no buyer yet, the owners of the old Farmers and Merchants Bank building at Park Avenue and A Street are finally stripping the old carpet, furniture and junk left over from when it was Inkley's. (Is it too much to ask for the ugly, rusting Inkley's canopy on the building's exterior to be taken away as well? Also, can anyone tell us exactly how long Inkley's has been gone?)

Kevin Cutler of Sperry Van Ness Commerical said the brick building, originally built around 1910, has about 11,000 square feet on three floors (including the stone basement). The upstairs could be used for office or residential, the main floor for retail or office.

The building is on the National Register of Historic Places.