Sunday, March 18, 2007
A new Barnes & Noble, Panera coming
Jenny Kincaid Boone
Jenny reports on the latest news on the Roanoke Valley retail industry.
Recent stories
June is the month that two new retailers are set to open adjacent to Valley View Mall.
Barnes & Noble, a national book chain, will open June 20, said Ashley Likens, a mall spokeswoman. The bookseller will be located in a section of the former movie theater at the mall. It will be the Roanoke Valley’s second Barnes & Noble location.
Panera Bread will open sometime in June , Likens added. It will be the second Roanoke-area Panera Bread location.
Both retailers are part of the District at Valley View, a retail center expansion going up beside the mall.
CBL & Associates Properties, the company that owns Valley View and is building the center, has not yet announced what other retailers will make up the District. But the expansion is proposed to measure 76,000 square feet of new and redeveloped space in a northeast area of the mall’s parking lot, stretching from one J.C. Penney entrance to Sears.
Barnes & Noble will be about 27,175 square feet, while Panera Bread’s location will be 4,800 square feet.
Two national restaurant chains, Carrabba’s Italian Grill and Abuelo’s Mexican Food Embassy, opened last year as part of the District.
Ukrops
Real estate agents and downtown event planners already are touting Ukrop’s future presence in Roanoke.
The Richmond grocery chain is not slated to open its Roanoke store until this spring, but already a local real estate agent is using its future site, 10 acres along Franklin Road, as a marketing tool. Chan Bolling with MKB Realtors is selling a 12,500-square-foot strip center on Franklin Road. A recent real estate ad shouted, “Ukrops is only a half block away!”
Ukrop’s also is sponsoring upcoming musical festivities in downtown Roanoke. The event is called Ukrop’s Music on the Market, and it features local musicians and bands on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, beginning March 31. The grocery chain sponsored the series last year as well.
Subway to stay
Don’t expect a Subway in downtown Roanoke to move from its spot on Jefferson Street anytime soon.
The national sandwich chain got caught up in some controversy several years ago because its franchisee wanted to move the restaurant inside Roanoke’s City Market Building. Subway’s lease was almost up at the time, and the owners of Frankie Rowland’s wanted to expand the steak restaurant into the neighboring Subway space.
Subway did not end up inside the market building, but a new owner, Denis Girard, recently purchased the downtown Subway. He says the eatery will stay put for at least two years.
Girard, who also owns a Subway in the Westlake area of Smith Mountain Lake, bought the sandwich shop at 102 S. Jefferson St. at the end of last year from co-owner River Bonhotel. Girard closed the restaurant for several days and reopened it on Jan. 4.
Girard said he signed a two-year lease for the location. Bonhotel, who still owns other Subways in the Roanoke Valley, said he sold the downtown restaurant because he thought Girard would have better luck finding a new location for it, should the eatery eventually need to leave its spot.
Slimming jeans
Denim that aims to make women appear a size slimmer still is a hit at a small women’s clothing boutique in Rocky Mount. J&J Fashions, located in downtown Rocky Mount, has been selling Thin Her jeans for more than a year. The jeans were created by California designer Nancy Bolen, who originally named the brand Slim’R. The jeans are crafted with a stretchy spandex material that has a control-top panel fitted to the waistline.
The boutique is selling about 20 pairs of the jeans a week, including online orders, said Sheila Copenhaver, vice president of J&J Fashions. The brand has been featured in several national magazines, and other boutiques across the country carry the pants.
At J&J, Canada has become a regular destination for orders and pairs of the jeans have been shipped to Spain. Expect to pay at least $90 a pair.
