Sunday, November 25, 2007
Stores expand their online shopping services
Jenny Kincaid Boone
Jenny reports on the latest news on the Roanoke Valley retail industry.
Recent stories
As the holiday season revs up, retailers want to drive online sales while at the same time encourage loyalty to brick-and-mortar stores.
More stores, including some with Roanoke Valley locations, are advertising curbside and in-store pickup for online orders. The holidays are a popular season for these kinds of services that do not require customers to pay shipping fees and other related charges.
Curbside service is new at Sears locations nationwide, including Roanoke's Valley View Mall store. Using the service, a customer can order an item online and pick it up at a local Sears store without getting out of the car. Customers are supposed to pull up to the merchandise pickup area outside Sears and use their cellphone to call a specified number. Within five minutes, a store associate should bring the purchased item to the customer's waiting vehicle, said Gail Lavielle, a spokeswoman for Sears Holding Corp.
Only selected merchandise is available for pickup.
Circuit City, an electronics retailer with a location in Roanoke, has the same kind of service, which has been in place since 2005. People can order certain items online and pick them up at the store in a 24-minute period. If an item is not ready in 24 minutes, customers receive a $24 Circuit City gift card, said Jackie Foreman, a spokeswoman for the Richmond-based retailer.
Circuit City also will hold items for up to 14 days.
Last year, these kinds of online shopping services proved helpful. According to the National Retail Federation, 13.6 million people used retailers' "buy online, pick up in-store" features during last year's holiday season.
Other avenues to lure shoppers online this season include a host of free shipping offers from retailers that include L.L. Bean and Crate & Barrel.
Computer Tutor
A former Roanoke County computer teacher has taken her skills in a new direction.
Linda McMillian opened Computer Tutor in October inside Huntsman Office Park at 7629 Williamson Road. McMillian teaches various computer skills by appointment. Her instruction includes teaching Microsoft Word and Excel, PowerPoint and how to download pictures from a digital camera. She also teaches Internet searching skills and keyboarding. McMillian said her classes are for all ages. She decided to offer them on an individual basis because people sometimes are intimidated in large classes, she said.
She charges a $20 fee for 45-minute appointments.
Former Orvis spot
Renovation work has begun inside the former site of an Orvis outlet in downtown Roanoke, but the company that owns the space, Valley Metro, will not seek a new tenant until sometime next year.
Another Orvis outlet in Salem will close in January, according to the mail-order catalog company and retailer based in Vermont.
Chip Holdren, assistant general manager at Valley Metro, said the company has hired general contractor Design Build Associates-Builders to upgrade the former Orvis space at 31 Campbell Ave., including adding drywall, repairing bathrooms and doing electrical and plumbing repairs.
From the Storefront
News from this week's Storefront blog at blogs.roanoke.com/storefront/:
n Some new businesses are snatching up office condos in downtown Roanoke.
n Pizza sales increase on Thanksgiving Eve.
n Check out Black Friday coverage and other tips for the kickoff to the holiday shopping season.
