First & Main to lose another store
Rack Room Shoes in Blacksburg's First & Main Shopping Center has placed closing signs in its windows. Photo by Jeff Sturgeon.
The First & Main shopping center in Blacksburg is losing another store. Rack Room Shoes, confirming speculation over the past few days, has placed closing signs in its windows. The store will close next month, according to one sign.
The Rack Room departure comes after an opening yesterday in the shopping center of the El Rodeo restaurant. However, the shopping center, now owned by Wells Fargo, has experienced a number of retail departures in recent months – and about half of its available space is vacant, according to the property management firm, The Rappaport Companies.
The Roanoke Times | 381-1661
No related posts.
20 Comments »
RSS feed for comments on this post.
Thank you radical fanatics from “BURG” for making this center fail before it ever had a chance to
succeed. I’d walk right into the Town Council offices and personally thank the folks who foolishly
blocked everything from Sonic to ‘big box’ retail. The antagonistic and divisive atmosphere these
wing nuts heaped on the project and the entire community are what not only killed any possibility
of First & Main succeeding, they also have kept ANY prospective retailers with any clout from even
bothering to look here. The bully-pulpit of loud mouthed “BURG” screamed around the nation that
Blacksburg DOES NOT WANT YOUR BUSINESS. How ironic they created a self-fulfilling prophecy of
failure. SHAME. SHAME. SHAME. Hope you are willing to help the good LOCAL people who are losing
their jobs!!! It’s all your fault. Foolish and ridiculous-cutting off your nose in spite of your face, idiots.
Comment by LOVE NRV — December 14, 2011 @ 2:20 pm
Well, this is what happens when Blacksburg citizens reject the idea of
ushering in a big box retail store (Wal-Mart). If it wasn’t for individuals
opposing Wal-Mart or another big box store to set up shop at First & Main, I
guarantee that Books-A-Million would still be open, and more big retail names
would come as well. First & Main would have been an ideal place for shops
such as “Abercrombie & Fitch, Apple Store,Banana Republic, Brooks Brothers,
Gap, J. Crew, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger” to come. If Blacksburg didn’t
want Wal-Mart, another Target store would have been an ideal fit for First&
Main. This is what you get when refusing possibilities.
Comment by Tony — December 14, 2011 @ 2:20 pm
This shopping center is going to be empty except Bull & Bones. Sal’s seems to be busy on certain nights. Wells Fargo needs to get aggressive with the rent and put packages together to attract tenants. The people who killed the development of this shopping area should be ashamed. So much empty retail space in that town, lousy or nonexistent parking, and the businesses/Town need to work together for solutions.
Comment by Steffy — December 14, 2011 @ 2:35 pm
From yesterday’s story about the El Rodeo opening:
“The 3-year-old shopping center is 71 percent occupied, said Sheryl Simeck, spokeswoman for property manager The Rappaport Companies.”
From above:
“…about half of its available space is vacant, according to the property management firm, The Rappaport Companies.”
First and Main has more than 2/3 of its space occupied, so that makes it almost half-vacant? I don’t understand.
Comment by Dan — December 14, 2011 @ 3:14 pm
Wow, if all of the people who complain about BURG actually shopped at 1st and Main, it wouldn’t be going under!
So, why did K-Mart leave the location that is nearly across the street from 1st and Main? Was it because big box shopping demand was so high?
And why are there so many empty retail storefronts in downtown Blacksburg?
Probably also low consumer demand and high rents. Just like at 1st and M.
Comment by Dude — December 14, 2011 @ 3:15 pm
I have heard the current property managers are allowing the place to fall apart. This is the only mall that they manage but do not own. They are running it down to make a low ball offer to Wells Fargo. This is not fair to Blacksburg or the current tenants.
Comment by Steve — December 14, 2011 @ 3:20 pm
Blacksburg has blocked more growth and more potential national tenants than we are aware of. When you look at your tax increase for the new high school &
and school renovations be aware that a declining commercial tax base will
continue to shrink and taxes will continue to rise. I can think of several hundred million that will not come to Blackburg. Time to reconsider who we vote for just by the future growth they voted against.
Comment by Ray Roberts — December 14, 2011 @ 3:59 pm
Stop blaming those people who did not want the Walmart. Blacksburg
did not want a Walmart (especially since you have one in Christiansburg). It
can thrive with the right mix of stores and an anchor store such as a
movie theater and a Fresh Market or midsize grocery store.
Comment by SDBlacksburg — December 14, 2011 @ 4:25 pm
There would have been a Sonic on the site had the town not imposed silly regulations on the place (“you can’t play your music too loud next to the traffic on busy S. Main St.”). Because of the delays these caused and Sonic taking on the town in a fight (“you just approved a drive-through restaurant down the street”), the economy went south and Sonic opted not to build. Had the town instead said, “Sure, we want your business!” and been just as welcoming to Arby’s (same silly rules, “you have to paint a crosswalk on the shopping center street behind you”), there might be more people in and around First & Main.
The town still hasn’t backed off on hassling businesses. Word is that it is taking longer to get the new Irish pub opened because the owner has had run-ins with the town over various and sundry issues and building code problems as he has worked to convert a vacant fraternity house into a viable local restaurant contributing to the tax base. Same goes for the guy trying to renovate the old Tyler Frame house. No wonder the town carries a “business unfriendly” reputation. One can only wonder how any plans for the old middle school site will be raked over the coals by the BURG crowd.
Comment by Joe Hokie — December 14, 2011 @ 4:48 pm
I don’t think a Walmart would have helped this shopping center, nor do I think Books a Million closed because of a lack of a big box store (I think Kindle, Amazon and other online retailers, the Barnes and Noble in Christiansburg, and the poor economy were some causes). The shopping center does have some issues, and parking seems to be one of them. There are parking spaces, but people like to park in front of the stores. They don’t want to park out of their way, even if it’s not a far walk. It’s human nature, unfortunately. And yet, some businesses are doing well at First and Main. Why is that? I don’t know. I’m always curious about how some businesses manage to succeed while others cannot (regardless of where they are located).
Comment by Jessica — December 14, 2011 @ 5:30 pm
Dan — you wondered why the El Rodeo story mentioned one occupancy rate and this story mentioned another. The short version is that the company gave us the wrong info the first time around. Jeff Sturgeon has posted an update on the El Rodeo story to explain the discrepancy:
http://blogs.roanoke.com/theburgs/2011/12/13/mexican-eatery-opens-at-first-main/
Thanks to our eagle-eyed readers for asking!
– Dwayne Yancey, senior editor
Comment by Dwayne Yancey — December 14, 2011 @ 5:42 pm
Interesting that Rackroom is only 5% of F & M (per Roanoke Times math).
Yes, the Town/Burg won the battle but lost the war, and without an anchor store, F & M stands little chance of ever making it.
Comment by betti sue — December 14, 2011 @ 6:08 pm
Don’t kid yourselves. BURG and the TC’s victory in their war against Wal-Mart is without a doubt what killed First and Main. When they won their victory over Wal-Mart, the company that was going to build the movie theater and the Fresh Market and all the other entertainment venues called the developer and told them to forget about it.
Like it or not, Wal-Mart would have brought to First and Main exactly what it needed to succeed – foot traffic. It would have increased the number of people who would be there every day, people who would spend money there.Unfotunately for First and Main and the rest of the County, there is a strong poliical faction that is more concerned with being “elite” than they are with spurring economic development. This kind of short-sighteded elitism is exactly why Langrehr lost to Yost in the recent election.
Comment by Chuck — December 14, 2011 @ 9:23 pm
I will be happy to go around, and count the empty spaces in first and main and I bet you it won’t be close t 57% full. Don’t tell me taking away one store drops the vacancy down 14%…that is hogwash.
You also have to remember that what they built was onle ‘phase one’. There was supposed to be three phases, all with additional store fronts. An anchor was needed to allow this place to succeed, and even if Wal-Mart didn’t fly town council mucked up the waters so much that anyone with any sense wouldn’t even try to build a store there now. People dreaming of a Target better keep dreaming, the Target in Christianburg has never met their revenue goals since they opened…they are never going to build another one so close.
The economy doesn’t help, but I can tell you that the town leadership are squarely to blame for this mess. In 10 years that place isn’t going to be any better than the the old inn with the duck pond, and the vacant buildings that were there originally.
Comment by Bill — December 15, 2011 @ 8:27 am
Why are the developers and owners absolved of any responsibility? If they were were honest and upfront about their intentions, this “mess” would never have happened.
Comment by Mike A. — December 15, 2011 @ 11:09 am
Here we go with the revisionist history — “honest and upfront about their intentions” again sounds like the old “bait and switch” cry that was going around earlier. “They showed off plans that had stores with apartments above and residential development, then they changed all those plans yadda yadda yadda.” What those whiners don’t want to accept is that those early plans were _concepts_, but what were finally submitted to the town and _approved_ by the town were the final thing and the real deal. There was no “switch” in there at all — the town could have pulled the plug but there was no reason to because the plans were legit and met all the specs and criteria for the site.
Of course, the town still had its way to muck up progress. The developers had to install expensive traffic lights on Main Street (that the town has opted not to use right so you can cruise from Country Club to Ellett on all greens if you hit it right — more pollution goes up from idling cars at lights than ever would from Sonic). Then there were the restrictions on Sonic and Arby’s, even though Wendy’s had just opened.
Comment by Joe Hokie — December 15, 2011 @ 5:11 pm
Let’s place a little blame on the developers who, with lots of retail space already sitting empty in Blacksburg, decided to build a mall that would be a “shopping destination.” Who in their right mind would drive to Blacksburg just to shop? It was a silly idea in the first place. It’s an ugly design–looks like prison or a fortress from the street. It’s poorly designed for traffic–combines a tiny crossroads that I think must be intended to make it feel like a downtown area with inconveniently placed parking around the perimeter that forces people to walk around the buildings to get to the entrances. Books a Million is the kind of bookstore that no one who loves books or reads a lot buys from, because they stock only best sellers and lowest common denominator titles. I found it impossible to find any books there that I wanted to buy. Rack Room Shoes stocks mostly low-end shoes of poor quality for not-so-good prices. I shopped there repeatedly and never found anything I was willing to purchase. Banks doesn’t stock enough variety of sizes for my husband to find anything that fits in the store. The only retailer that has products I consistently buy is the Chocolate Spike. We’ve done our best to try to support the retailers there, but there’s just not much appeal. It’s nice to have a few more restaurants with decent food in town (Bull & Bones, Sake House & Sal’s), but First & Main was destined to be a ghost town from the very beginning.
Comment by Maggie — December 16, 2011 @ 7:38 am
Good riddance. From start to the eventual finish First and Main was an economic boondooggle. How do you expect a glorified strip-mall to succeed when the downtown can’t keep store fronts occupied.
Comment by Dr. Eigenvalue — December 17, 2011 @ 8:00 pm
I had a feeling that due to the various delays the project dealt with from the legislation being hurled at them after the fact, that when they finally did open, it would be half-empty and eventually be filled with payday lenders and other low-end tenants. Of course the state changed the rules for the lenders, so that’s not likely to happen…but they’re sitting about half-empty, with no real prospect for the outparcels to successfully develop. Why would a box retailer want to come to the Town to occupy the rugby field behind Kroger, given the climate the Town has put out? Why would a theater build there when Regal built their new theater just a few years ago by the Mall? Why would more housing make sense in the Town, considering that the housing would likely be high-rent…the kind the Town doesn’t need more of? What about office space? There’s already a lot of vacant office space in Town and the CRC at VT has started construction on the second phase, which will create a large amount of new office and technical research space anyway.
Bad timing, too many delays, and a hostile climate set the stage for failure…and the project has sadly lived up to the expectations that it would not be successful with all the hurdles and roadblocks thrown at it.
It could recover though, with the right type of blend of tenants and outparcel development…and competent management. A place like Fresh Market or Whole Foods would be great, but I doubt the demographics are right for them to consider the area…and no existing storefront offers sufficient square footage based on their currently-operating stores I’ve been to. Perhaps as the economy slowly improves things there will change for the better. But I’m not holding my breath.
Comment by Other John — December 22, 2011 @ 3:14 pm
Nice Job Blacksburg. You were worried about a big box retail messing up your community, Now, you will have a vacant shopping center. That will look very nice to prospective employers and folks that want to move into the area.
Comment by NRV_Resident — December 22, 2011 @ 8:11 pm