Longtime school supply store to close later this month
A+ Teacher's Pet is loctated at 3175 N. Franklin St. in Christiansburg. Photo by Travis Williams | The Burgs
CHRISTIANSBURG — The educational supply store A+ Teacher’s Pet on North Franklin Street plans to close its doors for good Oct. 27, but store owner Becky Smithers said it will not be due to a lack of customers walking through them.
Smithers said she plans to close her business of 11 years because of growing concerns about the leaks in the roof and the air quality in the building, which the store has occupied for the past eight years.
Smithers said she believes her business to be the only one in the New River Valley specifically dedicated to educational resources, and throughout the years, she’s had many customers drive from as far away as Wytheville for her products.
Rather than go through a relocation process or temporarily move out to allow time for repairs, Smithers said she decided to end the business and plans to sell her remaining merchandise at discounted rates of 20 percent to 50 percent off.
Town of Christiansburg building inspector Jerry Heinline confirmed Friday that after finding “multiple leaks” in the store, he did have concerns about the air quality of the building. Heinline said he contacted building owner Loy Burch on Sept. 19 to inform him of the problem but did not issue an official building condemnation once he learned Smithers would soon be vacating the property.
The roof will have to be repaired and the building reinspected before the building will be allowed to be rented in the future, Heinline said.
Burch said he hasn’t been able to determine a timeline for those repairs, largely because they will include having to re-engineer the roof. Burch said the current roof has long had problems due to the amount of water it collects from the two adjacent buildings, which he equated to a half acre of water flowing onto the 16-foot-wide roof.
He added that until they are able to disable the current roof and do further investigations, they could not be certain of the exact measures needed to correct the issue.
“We realize what is there doesn’t work, so we’ve got to come up with some new ideas,” Burch said.
A+ Teacher’s Pet is open Monday through Friday from noon to 5 p.m. and Saturdays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
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That is sad to hear. A+ Teacher’s Pet is a fun store to visit to find items the big box stores do not carry. The owner was always very nice to work with and chat with on our visits. Best wishes, Ms. Smithers!
Comment by CC — October 18, 2012 @ 10:29 am
Another example of an arrogant city hack destroying sources of income for the city.
Comment by James Wolf — October 18, 2012 @ 11:49 pm