Retail roundup: Golf Mart plans to close

A Roanoke store selling golf clubs and accessories will close this summer so the store's owner can retire.

Golf Mart, located at the Williamson Road Plaza, will close when its inventory is sold, said Sharon Agee, whose husband, Randy Agee, runs the store.

Randy Agee has owned several golf stores in the past 25 years, including locations in Lynchburg and in southwest Roanoke County. He closed those stores when business slowed because of the recession. Customers from Lynchburg have been traveling to Roanoke to shop at Golf Mart, which opened in 2000, Sharon Agee said.

"It's going to leave a big void in the golf community," she said.

Golf Mart customers relied on Agee to perform a swing analysis using a computer. The results of the analysis helped customers find the right club.

Golf Mart also repaired bent or broken clubs.

The Agees didn't try advertising the business to find a buyer because it seemed like a hassle, Sharon Agee said, but if someone made an offer they'd consider selling the store.

Randy Agee opened the stores "for the love of the game," his wife said, but the retail business hasn't left much time for him to play. He is looking forward to hitting the greens when the store closes, she said.

Crossroads Mall sees continued development

Crossroads Mall is growing again with the sale of a parcel of land for the construction of a bank.

An acre of land at the corner of Hershberger Road and Rutgers Street in Roanoke sold for $1.2 million to First Citizens Bank, said Jake Copty, a Thalhimer real estate agent who brokered the sale for the owners of Crossroads.

A vacant SunTrust bank building remains on the site, but Copty said the building will be demolished and a new bank office constructed. (SunTrust left that location when it built a new branch at Crossroads Mall near McDonald's .)

A spokeswoman for First Citizens Bank did not have additional details yet about the bank's plans, including when construction might start.

The bank will be the third new business to set up on a pad site in the mall's parking lot within the last year.

Cook Out restaurant opened there in December, and Steak 'n Shake opened in May.

The mall lost a large tenant in April when Books-A-Million closed. The 36,000-square-foot building is for lease, and Copty said he is in talks with several retailers that he declined to name because nothing has been finalized. He said he hopes to have a signed lease soon.

A deal with a retailer might include redeveloping the building, which could include tearing it down and rebuilding, or doing renovations to the structure, Copty said.

Crossroads is also home to Rugged Warehouse, Kmart, several state offices and Advance Auto's headquarters, among others.

"We're excited about continued development at Crossroads Mall and looking forward to more development in the future," Copty said. "The property owners are committed to continuing to move in the right direction."

Mad Dog in Blacksburg to remain
open for at least another year

A Blacksburg store owner who first was trying to find a buyer for the business and then announced she would close has decided to stay open at the request of her customers.

Mad Dog, a clothing, accessories and home decor store on North Main Street in Blacksburg, will remain open for at least another year, said owner Dorothy Egger.

Egger decided in December to try to sell the store. She found buyers, but they didn't qualify for a business loan, she said. She announced in April that she would close. Egger, 61, has been in the retail business for 31 years and was ready to retire, she said.

She marked down everything in the store 60 percent and began selling off fixtures, she said.

Her customers didn't want to see her go, though.

Egger said she received so many emails and Facebook messages from her customers begging her not to close that she decided to keep the store open for at least another year.

"It gave me the impetus to hang on a little while longer," she said.

The store opened in the late 1990s, and Egger bought it 10 years ago.

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