Ukrop’s to close; restaurant damaged by fire
Two items of breaking news on the food scene this afternoon:
* Ukrop’s grocery store in Roanoke, which has been struggling for the past few months, has announced it will close in late October. For more info, go here.
* The historic Olde Liberty Station Restaurant in Bedford was damaged by fire today. Here’s a breaking news brief by reporter Rex Bowman.
Keep your browser on www.roanoke.com for updates to these stories, and look in tomorrow’s paper for the full stories.
September 18, 2009 - 4:17 PM
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I grew up in Richmond and Ukrops. I was so excited to see them coming to Roanoke. I was a shopper there for their first year. Then the Ukrops quality began to fade in the Roanoke Store. When visiting Richmond and going by their stores there, I could see the Ukrops Quality remained in those stores but not so much in Roanoke.
This is sad to see but I am not surprised to hear of it’s closing.
I have been a loyal customer at Ukrops for over a year, and I will continue to shop at their Richmond stores. Kroger and FoodLion will never get my business! Roanoke Virginia is a joke!
We are slowly running out of salad bars in the south part of Roanoke.
Mrs. Cheatham, As an ex Roanoke Ukrop’s employee I can tell you the reason the quality wasnt there… they ran this store on very little labor, their employees were kept in the dark about its fate, and they had NO support from upper management, not to mention most Roanokers hated our store and didnt have anything nice to say to us but moan and complain all the time. Roanoke got its wish, they wanted Ukrop’s to close and they got it!
Any word on what might go into Ukrops space?
I am so sad about Old Liberty Station!! The article says they plan to reopen, I hope so! I send guests there all the time if they are interested in visiting the D-Day Memorial. Award winning cheesecake too!
Once a train pulled up and the engineer jumped off and came back with a hot pastrami. It is a great place!
I will also miss Ukrops…although honestly, most of the time I wanted to go and didn’t want to get off Hwy 220. Great building, not the best location – for those who don’t live in Roanoke but are there all the time!
Catherine: If Roanoke is such a joke, move! Why bash all of Roanoke over a store closing. I shop there when I am on that side of town. People are moving out of the city. Ukrop’s is out of my way, but I still try to support them because they support our area with donations, sponsorships, etc. It is a shame to lose them.
@Catherine, are you planning on driving to Richmond to buy groceries?
Sad that yet ANOTHER business has failed in Roanoke! Doesn’t surprise me in the least. Roanoke is more concerned about having “cultural and art exhibits” than they are bringing jobs into the community. Maybe someone needs to take a look at the “city fathers”….seems to me some fresh blood is needed to bring the Star City (as it’s called) back to life. Until then it will continue being a “retirement” city!
Shellie, I think Ukrop’s is the easiest store to access from I-581/U.S. 220. You jump off and you’re there, not even a traffic light. It’s better positioned than either Fresh Market or Kroger, in my opinion. And for good reason; they spent a ton developing that place. Hmm, maybe I just offered a guess response to Kristen’s question.
sorry to hear about ukrops closing. it seems roanoke valley has problem attracting businesses. I’ve been trying to get Bob Evans here for years. Everytime I eat at the one in Lynchburg I make the suggestion. The company says its demographics/population. However, when I visit my small hometown of Parkersburg Wv. population 45K, they have 2 Bob Evans restuarnts. What gives? Other stores have given us the “no show” Kohls, Ollies, cheesecake factory, etc. etc. etc. thanks for giving us “the public” a place to voice opinion.
Oh Come On!!! Roanoke is saturated with grocery stores. I have a kroger down the hill. The store is kept nice, it is convenient, and the prices and quality are just as good as any other store in the valley. I like the Ukrops in Richmond, but I really don’t see the big deal. If it was convenient to me, I might have shopped there. Why should I spend half an hour driving to Ukrops when Kroger is two minutes away? Ukrops stuck itself in a bad location. If it had placed itself in the place behind the old Fast Freddy’s in Salem, it would have likely fared better. Our area is not going to develop as long as we push away things like intermodal terminals and the like. Things like American Viscose are things of the past. They aren’t coming back. Roanoke’s cheif asset is location. Someone is going to have to be next door to whatever commerce we attract. If everyone continues to push away the business that DO wish to locate here, then jobs will continue to leak away. Ukrops is not Roanoke pushing something away. Ukrops’ fate is due to poor planning. The only store that will prosper in that location is something with a unique offering to the area. Holdrens used to be there in that general location. At one time they were a fairly unique store and did well there.
Well, folks. It is the location. It really sucked. Hard to get to, not in the best part of town, nothing near it except the hospital, and the restaurants. Plus there is no alcohol, which means another stop. The fact that they are nt open on Sunday, which is one of the few shopping days my wife and I have.
In response to Pat Underwood. Why don’t you move?!!!
In response to Mrs. Hull, Yes I will drive to Richmond, I cannot return to stores that have zero customer service. I don’t travel much so it will be nice to see something different once a month.
Catherine, what exactly are you adding to the discourse by insulting an entire population? Every conversation on the Roanoke Times blogs concerning Ukrop’s has devolved into a virtual shouting match about the people of Roanoke. I’m not saying that Roanokers are perfect, but perhaps it’s not completely our fault that this store failed.
That being said, I really liked the Ukrops store, including the location. Sure, it’s on the other side of town from where I live, but I work a mile away and could shop on my lunch hour. The location, as pointed out by Lindsey, was probably the most accessible to 220/581. I could grab something in the store for dinner then easily head to the highway without much fuss. The staff was friendly, the store was clean.
However, one issue I had with the store was the lack of advertising. I don’t mean television, but in print. They seemed to have pulled advertising from the Roanoke market a while ago (or, perhaps I just never saw the ads). It would seem to me that if a store is in trouble, you really have to do something to remind people of your presence and why they should shop there. Most customers are not going to seek you out, and I think part of the reason for the failure is that most grocery shoppers just didn’t know of the weekly specials because there was no advertising. A company cannot expect the customers to be the only ones to change.
I’m very sorry for the store employees who are losing their jobs, including a friend of mine.
I am insulting a town that has been poorly managed for decades. And a population that could not support the best grocery store this town has ever had because they did’nt sell beer or were not open on Sunday. Roanoke has allowed Kroger and Foodlion and Wal-mart to monopolize this community. Foodlion at Hunting Hills and Tanglewood are only a mile apart. Kroger on Brambleton, do we need two so close together? As long as this town allows corporations to monopolize the landscape we will never have anything unique.
I agree with Jeff Franklin. I think one of the big downfalls of the Roanoke Ukrops is the location. True, it is very easily accessed from 220, however the part of town it is in just doesn’t work. I was really surprised when they chose that location for such an “upscale” grocery store. To be honest, southwest county would have been a much better choice for such an establishment.
Catherine, since you admitted on Jenny Boone’s blog that you’ve only lived here for 9 years, I’m not sure where you get off claiming to know that Roanoke has been “mismanaged for decades”. As for Kroger and Food Lion being “corporations”….what the heck do you think Ukrops is? A charity operation? Fresh Market has plenty of interesting grocery options, and if you really want to support a “unique” non-corporate entity, try Tinnells in South Roanoke – an actual home-owned operation that’s been serving the Roanoke community for decades.
Ukrops is nothing more than a grocery store – a nice one, but that’s it. It’s not a values litmus test. No one was under any obligation to support it and although it was a pleasant place to shop it didn’t fit in with the requirements of the Roanoke demographic. It tried, and failed, and the big take-away that the City should get from this is…be careful where we sprinkle our tax break dollars.
Dear Kristen, Since you are obviously not a psychic, then you would not know that I was born in Lewis Gale hospital in downtown Roanoke. Fresh market and Tinnells do not honor EBT cards, I guess they hate the poor. Ukrops service to its customer was superior to Kroger and Foodlion, as was the quality of their foods. And on the issue of charity Ukrops is outstanding. When was the last time anyone offered to take something to your car at any of these other grocers? With the recent robberies at Towers Kroger it was comforting being escorted out. The underground parking was great for rainy days and with an elevator it offered easy access to all. I consider it a great loss to our community, not to mention their kind employees who will now lose their jobs in already troubled times. Shame on any of you who feel comforted by that!
Catherine,
I am very sad for the employees too. No one except the very crass are celebrating Ukrop’s closing. To answer your question about when was the last time anyone at Kroger or Fresh Market offered to take groceries to my car, I can honestly answer it happened to me in the last few weeks at both Fresh Market and Tanglewood Kroger.
Ukrops will be missed by all that enjoyed shopping there. Yes they didn’t sell beer or wine and they weren’t open on Sundays. Even so I was able to do most of my shopping there. I drink beer in moderation and sometimes wine and still managed to have a supply at the house. Their sales were almost always better than the competition, but I think there was a lack of advertising to get the word out. Some of their everyday prices were cheaper than Kroger’s sale prices. Their fried chicken is the best in the valley. Kroger’s doesn’t come close and it’s better than KFC and Bojangles. It was nice to have real service for once. Yes some stuff was steep and is why I stayed away from the prepared foods. I will never understand people that say it was hard to get in/out of. These are the same people that go to the towers Kroger where two of the entrance/exit you take you life in your hands. The people that say the prices are high possibly never shopped there and went by what other people said. Yes I understand that some people shop on Sunday. Grant it has been many years since I worked in grocery (Harris Teeter and a smaller store before that) but Sunday was a slow day unless it was super bowl Sunday. People say “what did they expect with one store”. Well they were trying to get a foot hold here. I don’t blame them for not coming here with several stores until they know things will work out. Walmart started here with one store when there were many Kmarts. People say the location was a problem. Well no matter where they put the store it would be out of the way for someone The same people that said it was location are possible the same ones that shop at towers Kroger. Is is really that hard to drive around the block? It has been years since I walked into Fresh Market. In my opinion (yes I’m allowed to have one just like you) they didn’t offer much in a very small store. I do remember 4 ears of corn for $3.99 yet people say Ukrops was too high. Their hours were not right for some. Well if they were closed from midnight to 1 am their would be someone that would complain. Remember when all stores closed at night. Foodloin still does. There are few people that shop midnight to 7 am. The only reason Kroger and Walmart are 24 hrs is because the stockers are there. No one should be celebrating their closure. People are loosing their jobs. It may not be just the workers of Ukrops. Far as the tax break if you watch the news Ukrops will not get it.
Catherine, I agree wholeheartedly with your comments about Ukrop’s customer service, quality of foods and the parking. It was these reasons and others that I loved to shop there. I hate to see the employees lose their job and for another store to be empty especially at such a prominent intersection.
That being said, I respectfully disagree that the blame for the closing of Ukrop’s can be placed solely on the citizens of Roanoke.
I bet the employees would have been happy to work a few Sundays and holidays in exchange for keeping their jobs. That is also something the Urkops management team should consider.
I think one of the problems with Ukrop’s was they didn’t advertise weekly like the other stores do. They started advertising for a while earlier this year, in an attempt to draw people in, they should have been doing it from day one. It’s water under the bridge now, but they definitely hurt themselves by not letting people know what bargains they had. Fresh Market is a specialty store, they don’t have to advertise, all purpose grocery stores do. Marketing 101, people.