Retail Roundup: Ginger’s Jewelry returns to Roanoke
Ginger Mumpower has reopened her Roanoke jewelry story. Photo by Corey Thrasher
Ginger’s Jewelry has returned to Roanoke.
Ginger Mumpower has reopened her jewelry store on Towne Square Boulevard more than five years after closing it and one in Christiansburg.
“It sure feels good to be back,” Mumpower said.
Mumpower decided to take a break from retail in 2007 after being in business for 25 years – partly to focus on her family, which was struggling with her son’s drug addiction, she said.
She leased the Roanoke store’s building to Samuel’s Jewelers In the meantime, she continued selling Virginia Tech memorial bracelets and other school bracelets online, and she wholesaled her designs to other retailers. She also worked for a business coaching company that sent her to jewelry stores to analyze their business and provide plans for improvements.
At one point, she decided to try to sell the building in Roanoke, as well as her house, so she could move to Smith Mountain Lake, where she opened a store in 2010.
She also made a run for the Virginia House of Delegates in 2011, but was defeated by Greg Habeeb.
She managed all of this while her son’s addiction to heroin landed him in jail, charged with supplying the heroin that caused a former classmate’s death. Spencer Mumpower began serving a four-year prison sentence in a low-security prison in Petersburg on Aug. 1. The Mumpowers, who have been open about their struggle, earlier this year were part of a series published in The Roanoke Times that documented Spencer’s addiction, recovery and efforts to help other addicts.
The timing of his incarceration and Mumpower’s daughter’s departure to college played into her decision to reopen her jewelry store, she said. At the same time, Samuel’s notified her that it would not renew its lease. The building had never sold.
“It was a sign that I was supposed to be back” at the Roanoke store, she said.
Samuel’s closed at the end of August. Mumpower closed her lake store at the beginning of November and opened the Roanoke store a few weeks later.
Already, the opening has been a success, she said. Old customers have come by, including one woman who told Mumpower that she had pierced the woman’s ears when she was 4 years old. Now, that woman wants Mumpower to pierce her daughter’s ears.
The store is carrying Mumpower’s designs, which include the university-themed bracelets and a collapsible cross necklace that Mumpower calls “When Life Falls Apart.”
The store also has new lines of jewelry, including Hearts on Fire, Princesse Pearls, I.B. Goodman and Ze Bridal. Mumpower also offers custom designs.
On a recent afternoon, she buzzed around the store’s floor helping a couple with a diamond ring. She was surrounded by some of the same employees who worked with her at the original store and were hired by Samuel’s.
Mumpower said it has been great reconnecting with customers.
“I feel very, very blessed to be in the business I am in, to be part of people’s happiest moments,” she said.
She doesn’t have plans at this point to open any more stores, saying she wants to put her energy into making sure the Roanoke store succeeds.
Also in the column, shops in South Roanoke’s Crystal Spring holding a block party to offer shoppers discounts and raise money for Family Promise of Greater Roanoke, and a carry-out seafood restaurant will open in Roanoke County later this month. Click here to read more.
December 2, 2012 - 8:03 AM
Does the Roanoke Times want to promote new businesses in the Roanoke Area? What kind of article did you write about the reopening of GINGER’S Jewelry? I think the writer could have spent more time promoting the reopening of a local merchant, opening her business in a rough economy, saving jobs and hiring 10 employees and bringing in more tax revenue to Roanoke.
I am extremely disappointed that every article your paper prints with the name Mumpower in it, always slams her personal and political life. I personally was excited to hear about the reopening and thought the article would focus on the positive and wonderful business she runs, charities she supports and how Ginger is a generous and caring person. Ginger’s Jewelry is a local household name… I personally have had many wonderful business dealings with her, and am proud to call her a personal friend and an amazing woman.
Dear Amanda,
It’s interesting that a reporter take a positive event, such as the opening of Ginger’s Jewelry in Roanoke and turn it into a negative by focusing on Ginger Mumpower’s personal problems in the past. It seems that the holidays will continued to be marred by negative press. Ginger’s Jewelry provides jobs and other positive aspects within the City of Roanoke. Ms. Mumpower could have taken her business elsewhere where another municipality would have benefited from the opening. Keep up the “good work” and reporters such as yourself will turn the City of Roanoke into another Martinsville. Tis the Season to stay Positive! Either that or 19 years from now, someone else will be dragging the “skeletons” out of your closet evrytime you make a move in the right direction!
LA
@Alyse @Louis: Ginger and I talked about whether to include her son’s addiction and recovery in this piece. She told me that it was part of the reason why she closed the store five years ago, and part of the reason why she decided it was time to reopen. We both thought it relevant to the article. She has been very open with The Roanoke Times and myself about her son’s struggles, because both she and Spencer hope their story will help others. You can read a three-part series that reporter Beth Macy wrote with Spencer and Ginger’s help here.
Please forgive my misspelling! I’m angry!
does anyone understand why the Mill Mountain Zoo is doing a 300 percent markup on the cost of membership this year? I thought that might be a worthy story for Sundays paper, but i guess not.
@Amanda: The problem is that most of the article focuses on the negative aspects of what happened. Not the positive outcomes in the lives of lives who was involved. Not the store’s opening and the benefits that the City gains from a business opening. Not the fact that Ms. Mumpower supports charities. All you did was keep the wounds “fresh”! Your response is inadequate.
LA
Amanda,
You did a great job on this story.Unless Ginger is complaining
I see no reason to.
She is a wonderful lady and I have personal knowledge of her being a
good person from her years in Radford.
We enjoy our column.
So, the subject of the story tells the reporter how to write the story? Great journalism.
Alyse & Louis,iIt’s called news. It is not a fairy tale. Go to the Library and get a book with a happy ending if that is what you are looking for.
Good Job Amanda, thanks for reporting and not tainting the news with your own agenda.
Give me a break. The Mumpowers participated in what ended up being a 3 day front page festival about Ginger’s son’s problems, and not all that long ago. Had they been interested in keeping the issue quiet or letting it die, they would never have assented to that story being done. I still don’t understand why they did, but that’s a different story. Anyway, nothing here is news, and Amanda wasn’t the one who put it out there. It’s a perfectly balanced piece.
I did not find the article overly negative. It reported the facts why the store was closed in the first place. It showed Ginger was caring enough to put her family before work. Since she closed her store in SML and came back to Roanoke it seems she currently does not want to go to another municipality. I beleive reopening a new store has implications there will be tax revenue and new jobs added so why really report that?
@david: I asked Ginger whether her son’s problems had an affect on her decision to close and then reopen. When she told me it was a part of her decision to do both, I told her that I was going to include that in the article. She agreed it was relevant. Since I had to ask, and tell her that I would report that, I hardly think that is letting her tell me what to do.
Good to see some more positive comments in the past couple of hours.
There is one paragraph, out of 18 in the article that has negative content, but that was presented in a positive manner. All that “hate” & “negativity” is a sad take on the audience here.
This is a retail blog, and this definitely afforded Ginger’s a great deal of publicity…
Amanda, JJ, Kristen and Gloria, CaineRed ~ Positive articles promoting businesses I guess don’t make news, apparently you all work for the Times…whether or not Ginger said it would be okay if you wrote about her personal life ~ did she really have a choice? It really disgusts me that the Times always finds negativity when writing about Ginger. She is an outstanding woman, yes very open about her life…she is always an open book, but really , what was the reason you chose to rehash it in this article .. I don’t see the point??? Was excited for her courage to reopen in this economy and I personally know of her generosity to charities and of her generous heart to many many people. She never brags or talks about her generosity, so I am ! I personally know and love her children and I did read Beth’s 3 part article… JJ what a stupid comment, just my opinion, and yes I have a library card and read many types of books….
Just want you all to know ~ Have you ever thought , In today’s world sometimes the positive is refreshing …
Alyse, what you’re talking about is “advertising” and I’m sure the Times will be happy to sell advertising space to Ginger whenever she wishes.
Alyse, I find it VERY positive that Ginger Mumpower has been able to overcome the tragedy in her life, and her son’s, and can reopen her business. Would you rather the article have ignored one of the reasons that Ginger closed her business? That’s not very balanced. Ginger herself agreed that her son’s addiction and legal troubles were part of the reason she closed in the first place, and needed to be in the article. Didn’t Ginger share her family’s story in order to help other families in similar situations? And here’s some more inspiration to those families who are struggling! Did you ever think to look at it that way?
I think it’s fantastic that this family has chosen to share their story in the way that they have. Brushing it under the rug, pretending it isn’t there, inevitably makes matters worse. Out of the shadows and into the light. Best wishes to the new/renewed business, and congratulations on getting through a nightmare like addiction without coming apart at the seams. Hopefully your story will inspire/strengthen others who are suffering as well.