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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A popular Roanoke County country store has new owners, but it's keeping its neighborhood atmosphere.

Late last month, Thomas Milton and Ashley Russell took over the former Kingery Brothers Country Store on U.S. 220, a weathered building with white siding and a hog statue jutting out of the front.

For nearly 30 years, co-owners and brothers Wayne and Randy Kingery ran the store, along with other members of the Kingery family. It's grown into a community gathering place, where frequenters stop daily for deli-made breakfast sandwiches and hot dogs or fresh roast beef sandwiches for lunch or dinner. The Kingery family produces fresh meat from their Roanoke County farm, where they raise and slaughter hogs.

Milton and Russell intend to keep the shop's country store design, with some minor changes. They reopened this landmark as The Store last week, after sweeping up dust, shifting shelves of food and moving counter space.

Expect to find breakfast sandwiches, sausage and some deli additions, including soups and pinto beans. The focus, Milton said, it to keep the menu affordable, with most items priced at $5 or less.

A familiar face remains in the kitchen. Claire Gibson, who worked in the Kingery store for 12 years, will be behind the deli counter at The Store.

Along with the typical convenience store assortment of bottled sodas, candy and bags of potato chips, Milton and Russell are stocking the shop with additional brands of discount cigarettes.

The pair never before has operated a retail enterprise, but they're familiar with another type of business -- tobacco. Russell's father owns the Tobacco Co., a local business, while Milton's father runs the Tobacco Co. stores.

Russell and Milton said they're ready to make their own mark in retail, though Milton acknowledged that they "have big shoes to fill" at the former Kingery's store. They are leasing the retail space from the Kingerys.

"We want it to keep its old country store look," Milton said. "It makes people feel comfortable."

The Kingerys' parting from the retail business is "bittersweet," said Robin Barker, who is office manager for Kingery Brothers Excavating and Wayne Kingery's daughter. The family's excavating business will remain open.

"It's time for them to take a break," Barker said of her father and her uncle, who did not want to comment about the ownership change.

Daleville boutique to close

By mid-March, or earlier, Three Graces, a Daleville boutique, will close its doors for good.

After eight and a half years, Cindy Finch said she's ready to leave her eclectic retail enterprise behind. Her children, who once helped her to run the gift, jewelry and apparel store at the Botetourt Commons, now have careers in health care and education. And Finch wants more time to spend with her grandchildren.

On Saturdays, "I'm here instead of at the ballpark or the dance recitals," she said.

She opened Three Graces in 2000 as a way for her two daughters to work and care for their young children. Her daughters took turns working two day shifts at the boutique, caring for each others' children when they were off. Finch named Three Graces for three Greek goddesses who encouraged gift giving.

The past year has been tough for retailers, but it was not a factor in Finch's decision to close Three Graces. She has planned to close the shop since February.

Still, the nation's economic struggles have validated her decision to shut the doors, she said.

The price of merchandise at her shop is discounted 30 percent this month. In February, a 40 percent sale will start. And if any merchandise is left in March, the discounts will be deeper. Three Graces will close on or before March 14, depending on how quickly inventory sells, Finch said.

She's not yet sure what she will do after the store closes. Whatever it is, Finch wants to have a part-time work schedule.

"I'm excited to reinvent myself," she said. "I'm ready to do something totally different and not work weekends and holidays."

Company makes errand runs

As a business owner for 29 years, Larry Smith realizes that running errands is time consuming.

Last week, he shifted his focus away from his wholesale company, which sells parts to the coal industry, to launch a new enterprise aimed at making errand-running easier for businesses and consumers.

For hourly or half-hour fees, Smith's enterprise, Delivery Boyz, offers delivery of business and household commodities, such as prescription drugs, computers, office supplies and legal documents. With two part-time employees, Delivery Boyz delivers from business to business or from business to residents.

But the new company does not transport furniture or other extremely heavy items.

"It's basically what human beings would be able to pick up and carry," Smith said.

For now, the delivery runs are limited to areas within a 35-mile radius of the city of Roanoke. Delivery Boyz is equipped with a pickup truck and a van, and its office is at 3806 Brambleton Ave. in Roanoke County. Its hours are 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Smith's wholesale company, L.W. Smith Supply Co., required him to travel throughout Southwest Virginia and southern West Virginia. With Delivery Boyz, he plans to stay closer to home.

Get more information about Delivery Boyz at www.deliveryboyz.net.

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

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