Sunday, June 11, 2006
Bruster's to open new shop
Jenny Kincaid Boone
Jenny reports on the latest news on the Roanoke Valley retail industry.
Recent stories
Just in time for summer's heat and humidity, a Roanoke sweet spot is expanding.
Bruster's Ice Cream will open its second Roanoke location in early July on Brandon Avenue beside Jimmy V's restaurant.
Bruster's already has a spot on Williamson Road.
And its new building is up. There will be a drive-through and an outdoor courtyard area with benches and umbrellas to the right side of the store, said Gary Lierman, owner of the franchise.
He's confident that the new Bruster's will be successful, because it's being planted in an area where a large number of people live. All Bruster's stores should have a minimum population of 30,000 people living in a 3- to 5-mile radius of them, Lierman said.
Bruster's also banks on a strong nighttime crowd. Two-thirds of its business comes after 5 p.m., Lierman said, and it's open until 11 p.m. during the summer.
Based in Pennsylvania, Bruster's serves 100 flavors of ice cream, 24 at a time. But the best-selling flavors are vanilla, chocolate and butter pecan, in that order, Lierman said.
The ice cream is made inside its stores, which in Roanoke are places where one can order at exterior windows.
In addition to homemade ice cream, yogurt and waffle cones, the store also serves fat-free and no-sugar ice cream, milkshakes, sundaes and cakes. There are 18 Bruster's locations in Virginia.
Sam & Norah
A grandmother, Andrea Reid Waide can't help but shop for her two young granddaughters any chance that she gets.
Now, she's opening a store in their honor, and one that she hopes will appeal to both parents and grandparents.
Just around the corner from Reid's Fine Furnishings, the store that Waide and her husband own on Grandin Road in Roanoke, they're fixing up an old house at 1919 Westover Ave. to showcase a new market niche, children's furniture. By late summer, they plan to open Sam & Norah, a store that will sell upper-end children's furnishings and accessories.
The new store will take up the bottom level of the house and is named after their granddaughters, Samantha, 8, and Norah, 8 months old.
Waide said they plan to carry furniture that will fit newborn children through the pre-teenage years. And the selection will include lines such as Vermont Tubbs, Morigeau-Lepine, Moosehead and Superior furniture. Other than European-made strollers, the majority of the store's selection will be American-made products, Waide said.
She said the store is in an area, the Raleigh Court neighborhood, that fits her customer base.
"Since the Grandin area has been re-energized, we have lots of new restaurants and see lots of young families coming in," she said.
Reid's opened in 1995.
Leo Grande Vineyards and Winery
Retirement has been quite a roller-coaster for Norman and Susan Leo Grande, who in early-May opened Leo Grande Vineyards and Winery in Bedford County.
After several years growing grapes and selling them to local wineries, the couple decided to strike out on their own, purchasing nearly 400 acres of farmland and tripling the size of their vineyard.
Now wine lovers can sample their 2005 collection, which includes a Chardonnay and Chambourcin in addition to the sweet and semi-sweet blends of red and white wines. Prices range from $10 to $18.
The couple also raises Black Angus cattle and American Saddlebred horses. Visitors to the winery may also see goats, chickens and a pot-belly pig roaming the grounds. Its tasting room and veranda offers views of the Peaks of Otter.
Located in Goode, Leo Grande Vineyards and Winery is the third winery to open in Bedford County in the last year.
White Rock Vineyards and Winery in Goodview opened in June 2005 and Savoy-Lee Winery in Huddleston opened last September.
Towers
If you're curious about what you'll find at a new bed, bath and home accessories store that's expected to open by the end of this month at Towers Shopping Center in Roanoke, the store's manager recently revealed a few details.
The shop will combine two concepts owned by HanoverDirect, a catalog retailer. It will have two entrances, with the left and smaller side of the store selling products from Domestications, a bed and bath supplier. That selection will include bed-in-a-bag sets, and most items will be moderately priced, said Marie Pugh, the store manager.
The other half of the store, the larger side, will sell products from The Company Store. They are what Pugh described as higher-end merchandise, such as down comforters and bright quilts.
The Roanoke store is HanoverDirect's third retail outlet in the United States, Pugh said. The company's other stores are in Wisconsin. It operates a distribution center in Roanoke.
For more information about both store concepts, visit www.thecompanystore.com and www.domestications.com.
Howard's Soup Kitchen
One of the owners of Howard's Soup Kitchen in downtown Roanoke said he's been scouting out a new location to move the restaurant if his building ends up selling.
Brothers Eddy and Jerry Howard have put their building at 24 W. Church Ave. on the market, and if it sells, they plan to close the popular lunchtime spot on the bottom floor, known for its variety of soups, said Eddy Howard, who has handled the day-to-day operation of the restaurant since it reopened last year. But they're looking for a location that's outside of downtown Roanoke, he said.
Former Rabbit Patch spot
It looks like there's a taker at the former spot of the Rabbit Patch restaurant at the corner of Jefferson Street and Campbell Avenue in downtown Roanoke. There are newspapers plastered to the windows of the restaurant, and a sign posted on one window says, "Circle Fresh Food opening soon."
Other details about the new eatery are unknown.
