Retail in the news
There were a few retail stories in the newspaper this weekend that I want to bring to your attention.
The first, sadly, was the death of the owner of the Republic of Floyd store, Tom Ryan. Ryan suffered a massive heart attack Saturday. Ryan was a strong supporter of the Floyd community, and devoted his store to selling touristy items – T-shirts, hats, bumperstickers- that promoted the town. You can read more about Ryan and his store in this story by reporter Zach Crizer.
Another story covered the last of Goodwill’s bi-weekly auctions at the Salem store. The store’s managers decided they would make more money by doing away with the auctions and opening an outlet store, where they’ll sell all the items cleared from the store’s shelves individually or by the pound. You can read reporter Ralph Berrier’s lively account of the last auction, and learn more about the outlet store, here.
Lastly, yours truly attended the Greater Roanoke Home and Garden show on Sunday. I reported that consumer confidence in the valley seems to be on the upswing, at least according to the businesses who were at the event to sell their services and products. That story is here.
January 14, 2013 - 12:00 PM
Hey Amanda.
Was by the ivy Market site over the weekend and saw that all for lease/forsale signs were gone. Replaced by owned and managed by Talhimer! Can you see what is going on over there. Am so tired of seeing that empty store sit. Surely there has to be some developer/ grocery store for that space!!
@Chris: I have a good contact at Thalhimer so I will see what’s going on. My guess is that Valley Bank has contracted with them to help get the space sold.
Thanks Amanda. While you are at it see if you can get any more news from Thalhimer about other retail centers. They have a lot- Tanglewood, Towers, old foodlion on 220, Townsqaure ect. All have several large retail vacancies. Look forward to hearing back!
@Chris: Actually, I noticed that Thalhimer is no longer handling Towers. Rappaport Cos., which owns the center, is handling leasing there now. But you are right, Thalhimer does handle a lot of the retail centers in the Roanoke area.
There used to be a Goodwill Dollar Store at the shopping center on the corner of Melrose and Peter’s Creek. It wasn’t opened long, and recently there was a Salvation Army Thrift in the same spot that also wasn’t opened long. If the Goodwill people read this, I’d love to see that Dollar Store come back! I was sad when it closed.