Jenny Kincaid Boone covers retail and real estate.

jenny.boone
@roanoke.com
981-3235

Jenny Kincaid Boone

Retail Roundup columns

• Readers, thanks for your support
• Bastians Bar-B-Q to reopen
• Woolworth's space is being renovated in downtown Roanoke

The Storefront blog

• More from Jenny's blog

Years ago, it was bathing suits, swimming caps and costumes.

Now, it's monogrammed buckets, children's furniture and unique gifts.

Two sisters, Carol King and Laurie Frohock, are going into business for themselves again, but this time, their sister-in-law is joining them.

King, Frohock and Deanna Weld plan to open Two and a Half Sisters on Saturday in Roanoke. Their retail space at 2126 Colonial Ave. S.W. is the former home of Imagination Station toy and furniture company. The Blacksburg-based toy retailer closed its Roanoke shop last year.

King and Frohock are not new to the retail world. When they were college students at the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech, they opened a Roanoke swimwear store called Gantner Swimwear Outlet. They managed the shop, which was owned by their aunt and uncle who live in Pennsylvania.

After King and Frohock graduated, their mother, Frederica Weld, took over as manager of Gantner. In 2007, the store closed and merged with Dance Etc. in Vinton.

Both sisters moved on to have careers, children and new lives. But they, along with Deanna Weld, decided to open Two and a Half Sisters when Frohock, a costume designer, lost her job earlier this year. King's now a lawyer in Arlington, while Frohock and Weld, a stay-at-home mom, live in the Roanoke area.

Frohock will manage the store's day-to-day operations, using her painting and other art skills to personalize and monogram bags, furniture, buckets and other artwork to sell as gifts and for home decor. The shop also carries children's furniture, from bookshelves to potty chairs, along with a variety of whimsical gifts for birthdays, new babies and weddings.

The women will donate 5 percent of their earnings to Autism Speaks, an autism advocacy group.

"It's not the best economic times, but we're going to hope for the best," Frohock said.

Ham shop changes names

There's something different about a Roanoke ham shop.

Last week, Heavenly Ham became Honeybaked Ham and Cafe, a national restaurant company with a similar menu.

Honeybaked Ham bought Heavenly Ham's franchises several years ago, but not all of the restaurants, including the Roanoke location, were quick to make the brand switch.

That was largely because Honeybaked Ham's lunch menu did not match the menu at Heavenly Ham, said Frank Guilfoyle, owner of Heavenly Ham's Southwest Roanoke location off Colonial Avenue.

"We would have had to change our lunch menu, and we didn't want to do that," he said.

So, the menu's not changing. Honeybaked Ham finally agreed to keep it the same. Even so, patrons will find some new food selections, including a mini bone-in ham, a barbecue pork roast and a Cajun turkey available during the holidays.

The name switch brought more changes. The walls inside the former Heavenly Ham now are covered with a brick red design. Also, the hams are Honeybaked Ham's products.

Still, "we glaze the ham the same," Guilfoyle said.

Honeybaked Ham has 15 shops in Virginia.

America's Best may open in Roanoke

A national contact lens and eye wear retailer has its sights set on Roanoke.

Towne Square Shopping Center may land a new America's Best Contacts & Eyeglasses store. The Georgia-based chain has more than 230 locations nationwide.

The retailer is considering a 3,000-square-foot space at Towne Square, beside Szechuan Restaurant. But it's still negotiating with Towne Square's landlord about specific terms of the lease, said John Anderson, real estate manager for National Vision, the company that owns America's Best.

National Vision is expanding America's Best stores rapidly. It expects to open 55 locations in 2010, including the Roanoke store in February. The stores sell eyewear products and offer eye exams.

The retail concept is performing well despite the slow economy, Anderson said. Rates for rents and construction are lower than they were three years ago, making expansion more realistic, he explained.

National Vision, which claims to be the fourth-largest optical retailer in the country, owns other retail brands, including Vision centers inside some Walmarts and Optical Shoppes at Fred Meyer stores, according to the company's Web site.

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

• Bruster's Real Ice Cream has closed its Brandon Avenue shop.

• Check out the top 50 online shopping Web sites.

• This month, Men's Wearhouse stores are collecting used suits to donate locally to the Salvation Army's Red Shield Lodge.