Jenny Kincaid Boone covers retail and real estate.

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Jenny Kincaid Boone

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To save on overhead costs and change direction, a home decor and gift shop in Southwest Roanoke County soon will downsize and shift spaces.

Next month, Willow Grove, a store at the Forum, a shopping center on Starkey Road, will relocate several doors down to a smaller space that's currently home to MetLife. At Willow Grove's current spot beside Jos. A. Bank, merchandise is discounted 60 percent off as part of a storewide moving sale.

MetLife, an insurance and financial services firm, will leave the center this month, said Lesleigh Strauss, who manages and leases the Forum. It will relocate to an office building at 3800 Electric Road in Roanoke County.

As for Willow Grove, Mary Barton, owner, decided that it was time to shed the large furniture pieces on her shop's sales floor. Customers mostly special order certain furnishings, she said, rather than choosing the items that she has in stock. Barton has owned Willow Grove for three years.

She realized that she didn't need the 1,650-square-foot storefront to house furniture that wasn't moving. She'll also save on overhead costs by leasing a smaller, approximately 1,300-square-foot storefront.

Barton plans to expand her gift collection at the new space, where she expects to open March 21. She'll keep her current shop open until late March.

The selection will include sterling silver jewelry, monogrammed tote bags and tabletop items such as serving pieces and napkins, and other decor.

But she's not leaving furniture sales behind entirely. Barton will reserve an area of the new store for shoppers to browse catalogs and the Web for special furniture orders. For each order, Barton says, she will knock off 30 percent of the retail price.

After more than 20 years managing a local framing shop, Kristi P'Simer has stepped out on her own.

P'Simer and her husband, John, opened Simply Framing by Kristi last month at 3203 Brambleton Ave.

For the past two decades, Kristi P'Simer managed Frame 'n Things in Roanoke County. Late last year, she took her 26 total years experience in the framing business and started her own enterprise.

A certified picture framer, Kristi P'Simer wanted to be more involved in actual framing work, rather than daily management duties.

Her new shop offers framing services. She also sells art by local artists and frame and picture supplies.

Advance rival expands

O'Reilly Auto Parts opened its new store in Salem last month, and the auto parts retail chain, has other new Roanoke Valley and New River Valley locations in the works.

In Salem, O'Reilly landed in a former coffeehouse spot at 911 W. Main St., across the street from a new Lowe's Home Improvement store under construction.

Also, O'Reilly filed a site plan in July to build a new store at 4611 Williamson Road in Roanoke.

In November, Randy Wingfield, Christiansburg's planning director, told The Roanoke Times that the chain plans to open a store in Christiansburg, at 1275 Roanoke Road.

Mark Merz, a spokesman for Missouri-based O'Reilly, said he did not know the opening dates for new stores in Roanoke and Christiansburg. The chain typically does not release details about new stores until a retail location is 90 days away from opening, he said.

Missouri-based O'Reilly plans to open 150 stores this year, Merz said.

O'Reilly recently surpassed Roanoke-based Advance Auto Parts by one in its total store count. O'Reilly had 3,421 stores nationwide as of Dec. 31, while Advance had 3,420 locations as of Jan. 2.

Both chains rank behind Tennessee-based Auto Zone, with 4,265 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico and 193 in Mexico.

Networking company adds Roanoke to name

A company that sells data networking, fire alarm equipment, security products and more relocated to Williamson Road in Roanoke in November to increase visibility and expand. With the location switch, the company also changed its name.

Roanoke Wire & Electronics, a division of Norfolk Wire & Electronics, nearly doubled its size by moving from Roanoke's Airport Commerce Park to 2126 Williamson Road.

Since 2007, when the company first came to Roanoke, it was called Norfolk Wire & Electronics. With the relocation, branch manager Brian Tucei wanted to change its name to reflect a local focus.

Tucei said it was necessary for the firm to move beyond its former industrial park presence where "nobody goes ... unless there's a reason to go there."

The new Williamson Road spot gives the company greater visibility, allowing for more walk-in traffic and retail sales, Tucei said.

Data communication and networking equipment sales are the company's bread and butter business, he said.

Norfolk Wire & Electronics has nine locations in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, according to its Web site.