Sunday, April 13, 2008
More retailers relocate from West Salem Plaza
Jenny Kincaid Boone
Jenny reports on the latest news on the Roanoke Valley retail industry.
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The last tenant is leaving West Salem Plaza but whether the Salem retail center is poised for new development is up in the air.
Salem Wellness & Fitness is moving out. It's the last business to vacate this dilapidated retail center with at least nine storefronts at West Main and Fourth streets. The health club is taking the former spot of Movie Gallery at Spartan Square, also on West Main Street in Salem.
Movie Gallery closed in March, after the movie rental chain filed for bankruptcy and announced that it was shutting down 400 underperforming stores under the Movie Gallery or Hollywood Video names nationwide.
Dot-Com Properties, a Roanoke company that owns West Salem Plaza, gave the health club a 30-day notice to leave, said Tish Garrett. She helps her husband, Steven Garrett, operate Salem Wellness & Fitness.
They have until April 30 to relocate the club, she said.
Luckily, they already had begun to scout out a new location, because "we knew that something was going on" with the plaza's future, Tish Garrett said.
At its new home, the Garretts are upfitting the space with locker rooms and creating a separate group exercise room in a former storage area. They're also replacing old exercise equipment with new models.
Tish Garrett doesn't expect the move to alter the fitness center's daily operation. The club, which has 500 members, should reopen by May 1 at its new location, she said.
She said a Florida developer is interested in purchasing the plaza, but a sale is not final. But Richard Bishop, co-manager of the plaza, said there is not a confirmed plan for the property's future.
"It's a nice piece of property sitting there waiting for the right tenant," he said. "You don't really have to market a big piece of property in a retail location like that."
The plaza is "pretty shabby looking," Bishop added. "Something needs to be done about the property."
Dot-Com Properties' attempt to sell the plaza in the past two years has caused many of the stores and restaurants there to jump ship.
The stores that have closed or left the plaza include Capt'N Paul's Seafood, Laser Venture Pizza and Games, Carini Pizza & Restaurant and most recently the Orvis Outlet and the Bacova Factory Outlet.
Last year, an Atlanta developer, Roland Guyot, who planned to land a home improvement retailer and a grocery store at West Salem Plaza, backed out of a contract to purchase the 112,000-square-foot center.
Kroger
This summer Kroger will open a new store on U.S. 460 in Roanoke County, but an exact opening date is unknown, said Carl York, a spokesman for the grocer's mid-Atlantic office.
The store is expected to be Kroger's largest location in the Roanoke Valley, measuring 84,000 square feet and situated near the corner of Valley Gateway Boulevard in the Bonsack area.
The site also will house a gas station.
Frank's Pizza
Frank's Pizza opened April 1 in Salem, at 14 E. Main St., in a space that formerly housed Surf & Turf Grill.
Patricia and Marco Giovannini and Frances Corigliano own the eatery.
The Corigliano family also operates Frank's Pizza & Subs at Hunting Hills Plaza in Southwest Roanoke, where John and Joey Corigliano are the primary owners.
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