FARGO - Construction of a new flagship Scheels All Sports store here is on a fast track.

Work on the $32 million project was to begin in a year, but it was moved ahead because the company feels the economy is strong, said Steve Scheel, Scheels chairman and chief executive officer.

Scheels will break ground within 30 days on a three-level, 265,000-square-foot sporting goods store and corporate headquarters. It is expected to be finished in 2006.

Competition for the outdoors business is heating up among Scheels, Gander Mountain and Sportsman's Warehouse, as well as Cabela's in East Grand Forks, Minn.

"We don't pay too much attention to the competition," Scheel said. "Business is good all over the Midwest. We've seen that with the last four stores we opened."

The new Scheels store will boast a spinning 50-year-old, restored 45-foot-high Ferris wheel in a 70-foot-tall central atrium. Scheel said it will feature 88 shops under one roof. Separate shops are set aside for antique weapons, home accents, fudge, Starbucks coffee and cross-country skiing.

The Fargo store also will have a day-care center for 65 children, for use by employees.

Scheels All Sports also has stores in Bismarck, Grand Forks and Minot, in Great Falls and Billings, Mont; Sioux Falls and Rapid City, S.D.; Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City, Iowa City and Des Moines, Iowa; Mankato and St. Cloud, Minn.; and Lincoln and Omaha, Neb.

"If we go into Minneapolis, Chicago, Milwaukee or Denver, we want to experiment here first," Scheel said. "We're looking seriously at some big markets right now."