A longtime co-owner of White Elephant Surplus Stores has left the well-known family toy and sporting-goods retail business to launch a new store that will sell boats and boating accessories.

Ed Conley, who managed White Elephant’s store in Spokane Valley and owned the two-store chain with brothers Pat and Rich Conley, has left that business to open the new marine store, called Elephant Boys. The new venture is located at 12622 E. Sprague, in the building that formerly had housed White Elephant’s boat-service department. That 2,500-square-foot building is just east of White Elephant’s Valley store.

“We’ll have a full-service marina with discount prices,” says Ed Conley.

Elephant Boys sells Lowe and Triton boat brands, which White Elephant had sold. The new venture also carries boats manufactured by Cypress Cay, Aluminum Chambered Boats, and Water Lodge, and sells and services Evinrude, Tohatsu, and Mercury outboard motors.

Ed Conley’s son, Marc Conley, who also works at Elephant Boys, says the business has a boat service and maintenance department with a certified boat-motor mechanic on staff.

“We have anything you would find in a marina-style business—boats, motors, trailers, and accessories,” he adds.

Elephant Boys doesn’t carry fishing tackle, but does sell some fishing-related items, including downriggers and depth finders, says Marc Conley.

“We want to complement White Elephant, but that’s not our bag anymore,” he says. “My dad’s passion is for the boating industry.”

He says four of the five employees at Elephant Boys are family members.

“It’s still a family business,” he says. “We’re just our own branch of the family tree."