Photos by SAM DEAN | The Roanoke Times

Chocolatepaper sells upscale gourmet sweets of several varieties, such as dark, milk and white chocolates from around the world. It also carries greeting cards and special-occasion gifts.

SAM DEAN The Roanoke Times

Chocolatepaper employee Brad Cox mans the display counter in the center of the store on Virginia 419.

Customer Judith VanLanen browses through greeting cards at Chocolatepaper on Virginia 419.

Jenny Kincaid Boone covers retail and real estate.

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Jenny Kincaid Boone

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The Storefront blog

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Since three men opened Chocolatepaper in Southwest Roanoke County in 2006, the store has attracted a strong suburban customer niche.

But they're seeking more visibility from out-of-towners and office employees.

The quest to appeal to a different shopper segment has led the gourmet chocolate and greeting card store to a new sweet spot in Roanoke's downtown district.

In September, they plan to open a second location for Chocolatepaper at 308 Market St., inside a new building near the farmers market.

"A lot of people from out of town assume that that's where they would find us," said Stan McCulloch, co-owner of the shop located off Virginia 419.

He said the business will capitalize on pedestrian traffic that downtown draws from convention groups, offices and weekend tourists.

The opening of the Taubman Museum of Art this fall is another plus for business, McCulloch said.

"There's a lot of things coming together," he said.

McCulloch and co-owner Mark Burkett, both Richmond residents, aren't new to retail. For the past 17 years, they have operated a gift card and home accessories store in Richmond's Carytown, called Mongrel.

Matt Burkett, a Roanoke Valley resident who is Mark Burkett's nephew, is a co-owner of Chocolatepaper. He manages the store's daily operations.

Though many retailers are shutting down stores as consumer spending slows, the owners of Chocolatepaper said they're poised to expand.

"In this economic period, a lot of times people stop buying the really big gifts," McCulloch said. "But you still always need a card. Maybe you're not going to spend the big bucks, but you could buy someone a box of chocolates."

They're in the midst of preparing the 1,990-square-foot downtown space to sell a similar candy, card and accessory selection as the Roanoke County store, including popular chocolates that are shaped like the Roanoke Star.

Downtown isn't entirely foreign for these entrepreneurs.

In 1985, Mark Burkett, a Roanoke area native, opened Cards-Cards- Cards, a shop selling gift cards, inside the City Market Building. It closed after four months, when a flood destroyed the space.

He considers the new Market Street location a way to rejoin downtown.

The Cellar

At the end of this week, The Cellar will close its doors.

June 28 is the last day that this bar and restaurant on Brambleton Avenue in Roanoke County will be open, because its lease is up, said owner Jackie Brown.

John Cronin, who owns the building at 3203 Brambleton Ave., said he's not renewing Brown's lease because of complaints from neighbors about late-night noise.

He said he does not yet have plans to rent the space to a new retailer.

Brown, a former bartender at the Brambleton Deli, opened The Cellar in 2005, serving lunch and dinner in the building's upper level and creating a bar in the lower level.

The bar's noise and commotion prompted Roanoke County police to investigate it last year, though they did not produce evidence for a public-nuisance charge in court.

Brown said she doesn't plan to reopen The Cellar elsewhere. She said she's "taking a big loss" by having to close her business.

Sleep Number

The District at Valley View is getting a mattress store.

Sleep Number by Select Comfort will open at this outdoor retail center adjacent to Valley View Mall in Roanoke on July 18, said Ashley Likens, a mall spokeswoman.

It's taking the former space of Fancy That, near Barnes & Noble Booksellers.

Fancy That, a gift and home accessories store, has moved inside the mall into the former Waldenbooks spot on the upper level.

News from the Storefront blog at blogs.roanoke.com/storefront/:

• Java the Hutt plans to open two locations at Virginia Western Community College and one at Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital. It now has a drive-through kiosk on Orange Avenue in Roanoke.

• Domino's Pizza has opened a new location on Williamson Road in downtown Roanoke.

• Greenhouse board shop is moving from downtown Roanoke to Valley View Boulevard.