Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Store changes hands
E.I. Randle will be closed for about a month next year.
Photos by Kyle Green | The Roanoke Times
E.I. Randle's merchandise is on sale prior to its temporary closing.
Henry Vaughan is a co-owner of the upscale women's boutique E.I. Randle. The store is being bought by Winter Hodges.
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An era in Roanoke women's fashion has reached the end of a three-decade run.
The owners of E.I. Randle, a women's classic apparel boutique at The Forum shopping center on Starkey Road in Southwest Roanoke County, plan to sell the store they first opened at another Roanoke County location in 1977.
Diana and Henry Vaughan will keep Jasmine, their apparel shop in Lynchburg, the city where they live. But they're selling the E.I. Randle name to a known figure in Roanoke Valley retail, Winter Hodges. He owns several urban-style clothing shops under the 310 Rosemont name in Roanoke, Blacksburg and Texas, and other retail concepts in Tennessee.
Henry Vaughan would not disclose the terms of the deal.
Though the battered economy has been a factor in many store closings in the past year, it's not the reason that the Vaughans are pulling out of the Roanoke Valley market. They're seeking a slower pace and more time to visit their family, which includes four children and nine grandchildren.
"It's a bittersweet situation," said Diana Vaughan, 60. "We have invested 31 years here, and it's been a good run."
Currently, all merchandise, from sweaters to shoes, is discounted 30 percent at E.I. Randle through the first week of January, when the store will close. Hodges plans to reopen the shop in early February, carrying mostly the same lines and styles, said Tyler Godsey, who manages 310 Rosemont in downtown Roanoke.
A letter that the Vaughans sent last month to regular customers urges those with E.I. Randle store credits to redeem them by Dec. 31. Layaway orders should be picked up by Dec. 5.
Some regular E.I. Randle shoppers have high expectations of the store when it opens under new ownership. Jane Ann Miller said that she hopes some of her favorite brands will stay on shelves and racks. Those include Vaneli shoes. She said that even when she once worked at J. Layman, a former Roanoke boutique, she shopped at E.I. Randle for shoes.
Miller enjoys the store because "everything's different" from a department store's selection, she said.
Another customer, Barbara Dickinson, browsed E.I. Randle on Tuesday in search of a shirt to match a hot pink skirt.
As for what she'd like to see with the new owners, "I would say keep the same traditional costumes, but with an eye toward what an older generation wants to wear," she said.
The Vaughans' retail enterprise has evolved since the early 1970s.
With a mere $2,500 investment, Diana Vaughan opened her first store, Earth Imports, in 1972 in Lynchburg, selling natural fiber-made garments and recycled jeans for $10.
Five years later, the Vaughans went into business with Ashley Randle, an Earth Imports customer who wanted to run a store in the Roanoke Valley. They named it E.I. Randle after Randle and Earth Imports. It opened in 1977 at Tanglewood Mall, carrying contemporary fashion, including early styles by designer Nicole Miller.
Eventually, Randle decided to get out of the business. In Lynchburg, Earth Imports became Jasmine when the Vaughans moved the store from the former Pittman Plaza to Boonsboro Shopping Center, where it is today.
In Roanoke, E.I. Randle moved to Towers Shopping Center in 1984; 11 years later, it shifted to its current location.
The Vaughans regularly travel between the stores, keeping a similar selection of $218 cashmere sweaters, $186 velvet jackets, $178 Frank Lyman dresses and other merchandise at both locations.
Henry Vaughan, 65, handles the business' finances, while Diana Vaughan chooses the styles and clothing lines. She looks for appropriate outfits for a wide age range of customers, from 15 to 95. She also thinks of individual customers' likes and needs. For example, she'll scout out potential mother-of-the bride dresses if a customer's daughter is getting married. Quality is key.
"The basic premise of my business is buying something you could wear a long time," Diana Vaughan said.
Both Jasmine and E.I. Randle generate $1.5 million in sales a year. "We're very pleased with business in light of today's economic times," Henry Vaughan said.
The Vaughans will keep Jasmine going in Lynchburg as long as possible. Diana Vaughan said she's not ready to retire from retail entirely.
When Hodges takes over at E.I. Randle, the store's classic styles largely will stay but with a few new additions, Godsey said. He did not disclose the specific new lines. Also, the store's employees will remain.
"We're not trying to come in there and change who it is that they have served over the years," Godsey said.
Still, E.I. Randle's soft aura, with light tan walls and bright lights, may not appear the same when Hodges takes over. The interior will resemble 310 Rosemont's trendy style, Godsey said. Come February, shoppers will find a Starbucks coffee bar, a flat-screen television and lounge area, and art by local artists on the shop's walls.
