Sunday, April 30, 2006
Couple to retire from restaurant
Jenny Kincaid Boone
Jenny reports on the latest news on the Roanoke Valley retail industry.
Recent stories
Many days starting around 11:30 a.m., space gets tight in the ordering line at this North Roanoke County lunch spot. It's a place where police officers, bank executives and stay-at-home moms regularly roll in and sit down to sandwiches and large bowls of salad.
Joan and David Thomas are saying farewell to a long career at the Peters Creek Road restaurant. They are retiring from David's Good Food.
The couple opened the eatery in 1990, and Joan Thomas named it after her husband. It was the Thomases' first restaurant, though they were partners in a Steak and Lobster House eatery in West Virginia at one time.
After eight years, the Thomases extended the restaurant to two rooms because the original room only seated about 21 people, and it was too cramped. In the second room, now the main dining area, there are square and rectangular tables with blue plastic chairs and tablecloths covered with a fruit design. There's room now for about 68.
On the menu at David's, you'll find a list of basic sandwiches and salads, such as Turkey with a Twist or chef and chicken salads. But sandwich features are different each day, and recently they included the Roanoker Wrap with turkey, ham and cheese and the Sunnyside Up, a croissant with egg salad, bacon and cheese.
"I've never had a bad meal here. That's unusual," said Ramona Kern, who works for the Roanoke County police department and eats lunch at David's about once a week. She's been eating there regularly for the last 10 years.
Joan Thomas, 68, calls her customers family.
"The relationship that you have to your customers becomes more than just selling them a sandwich," she said.
Michael Moses of Roanoke County bought the restaurant, and he said the menu and the shop's name will stay the same.
"I feel like I bought a sound business," said Moses, who's had experience in restaurant management.
He takes over on Monday, but the Thomases plan to stick around to help out for the month.
And what will they do once they hang up their restaurant aprons?
They'll do things they haven't had much time to do over the years, such as yard work, church work and becoming more familiar with the computer, said David Thomas, 69.
"It's time in our life to do something like this," Joan Thomas said.
Plato's Closet
Clean out your closets. Plato's Closet, a retailer that sells new and used clothing for teens and young adults, is moving into a spot beside CiCi's Pizza at Towne Square Shopping Center in Roanoke.
Plato's pays cash for clothes at each of its stores, according to its Web site. The site also lists the apparel brands for which it's looking. They include Abercrombie & Fitch, Bebe, Banana Republic, Charlotte Russe and Hollister.
The clothing at Plato's Closet stores, which are individually owned, fits teeny-boppers. Sizes for girls range from 12 to juniors' size 15. For boys, sizes start at 12 and go up to a 38-inch waist.
Plato's Closet is operated by parent company Winmark Corp. in Minneapolis. Winmark develops franchise stores that buy, sell and trade used and new merchandise. Its other stores include Play It Again Sports and Once Upon a Child.
Bliss
A Roanoke women's apparel shop is on the move.
Bliss, located in the 23rd Street Shoppes section of Towers Shopping Center in Roanoke, is leaving the center in August. It's moving to West Village, a retail center going up on Electric Road in Roanoke County, beside Fink's.
Co-owner of the shop, Whitney Clemens, said Towers has not been a great location for the high-end retailer. Clemens and Lisa Branch opened Bliss four years ago at Towers.
Line Management
There's no word yet about what's to come at a land parcel in Roanoke where a Western Sizzlin restaurant was located. Line Management Inc., a Salem company, paid $1.1 million for this land that sits in front of Crossroads Mall on Hershberger Road, according to Roanoke City records. The company said it has not yet finalized plans about what it will do at that site.
Line Management operates Jersey Lily's Roadhouse Grill on Orange Avenue in Roanoke, and it used to own some Texas Steakhouse & Saloons in Virginia and West Virginia. It recently opened T-Bone Jacks Steakhouse & Saloon in Waynesboro and it opened one in Lynchburg last year.
Paradox
Renovations at a downtown Roanoke restaurant and bar should start soon.
The space inside Paradox at 107 Campbell Ave. has been gutted. Co-owner Steve Rosenoff said that when renovations are complete, the restaurant will have a new look, though he didn't elaborate. It will have outdoor dining and shiny wood floors inside.
Rosenoff said he did not yet want to name the restaurant's projected re-opening date.
"It will be something that Roanoke will be proud of," he said.
Urban Cottage
Also in downtown Roanoke, Urban Cottage, a local furniture retailer, has moved to a new spot on 20 Kirk Ave. It previously was located in the downtown Market area, beside La De Da.
Ryan McCoy, the owner, said he will focus more on offering interior design services at his new location, where he also sells furniture, such as Drexel Heritage pieces.
