Matt Gentry | The Roanoke Times

Classic Body Image Salon & Day Spa owner Cindy Griffin (center) watches stylist Candice Viers (right) work with customer Becky Fruhwald at the salon on North Main Street in Blacksburg. Griffin decided to lease 6,000 square feet in First & Main largely because of its location. But the salon will retain its location on North Main Street.

Anibal Pineda tosses dough for a large pizza at Sal's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria in Radford. Sal's will open another location in First & Main.

Marous Brothers Construction job site foreman Patrick Preisel walks down the Fairmount Properties' "Main Street" at First & Main in Blacksburg.

In the more than two years since Fairmount Properties announced plans to build a mixed-use development on South Main Street in Blacksburg, its list of national tenants has stirred considerable anticipation -- and apprehension -- around town.

But the brand names aren't the only ones expected to fill First & Main storefronts come October.

Of the 28 businesses listed on Fairmount's current tenant list, 12 have already staked a claim in the New River Valley. The Chocolate Spike, Classic Body Image Salon & Day Spa and Sal's are all locally owned favorites. And Books-A-Million, Hibbett Sports and Rack Room Shoes now have locations in Christiansburg.

So, will First & Main be merely pulling shops from nearby developments to lease the space around its more well-known anchors?

Fairmount Principal Randy Ruttenberg says no.

"Very few of the tenants coming to this project will be relocations from within the community," he said. "It has always been our goal to introduce new retailers to the market as opposed to simply shifting people from within the market."

There are, however, a handful of local stores that either have packed, or will soon pack, up stores in Christiansburg and Blacksburg.

In recent months, Henebry's Jewelers moved out of the New River Valley Mall. The jewelry store is listed among First & Main's planned tenants.

Chocolate Spike owner Genie Ranck said she will close her retail store in downtown Blacksburg at the end of this month and reopen it in First & Main in the fall.

And Books-A-Million manager Rod Forster said the bookstore in Christiansburg's Marketplace shopping center will close sometime in the fall in anticipation of a Books-A-Million opening farther down the road in Blacksburg.

Told that a couple of his current tenants were listed in Fairmount's tenant list or site plan, New River Valley Mall manager Mike Poldiak said he has no idea of tenants' future plans -- only their current leases.

"Most of those conversations are handled at corporate levels," Poldiak noted. "It doesn't really filter back to me until the paperwork is signed off on."

And even so, Poldiak said he hopes First & Main will help the mall, not hurt it.

"If the tenant list that they're showing are the tenants that are coming, it will be more of a complement to the mall than a competition," he said. "We're pretty much the middle market shopper here. A lot of the tenants they've got listed are more of your high-end tenants."

From the start, Fairmount has promised a large mix of national and regional restaurants and shops. And initially, the announcement spurred some concerns among developers and industry experts worried about whether there would be enough retail interest in Blacksburg to fill and sustain not only First & Main, but other commercial developments as well.

"Certainly what you'd hope is that you didn't have two or three competing projects going after the same tenants or they may all come up short," Ben Cummings, a partner with Richmond-based Millennium Retail Partners, said in May 2006.

While it's hard to tell whether that has happened, Ruttenberg said First & Main is about 75 percent leased and "things are moving forward."

Annual rents within the project are in the $20 per square foot range.

"We've been thrilled by the interest from the tenant community both from the national, regional and local perspective," Ruttenberg said. "These retailers, many of which will be first to the market, clearly see the pent-up demand that the university and broader community will mean to the productivity of their stores."

A few, however, are businesses bringing second or third locations to the market.

Cindy Griffin, owner of Classic Body Image Salon & Day Spa, said she had been looking to expand Classic Body Image with a men's barbershop even before Fairmount came calling.

Griffin decided to lease 6,000 square feet in the new development largely because of its location.

And, when the salon opens in there in the fall, it will offer salon and spa services for both men and women.

"A lot of the big names are going to be there," Griffin said. "It will be good to be in a busier area than where we are now -- where we are now is kind of an out-of-the-way spot."

But Classic Body Image won't be giving up its current space. Griffin said in addition to continuing to offer salon services at the business's 4,300 square feet on North Main Street, she will convert some of the space into a cosmetology, massage and aesthetics school.

Also, with an eye on expansion, Joe Pugliese said he and his family have decided to open a Blacksburg version of the popular Radford eatery, Sal's Italian Restaurant & Pizzeria, in First & Main. Pugliese has also been involved in opening Sandro's in Fairlawn and Nico's Ristorante and Cafe in Roanoke.

"It's a good opportunity because there's other major shops around that pull in people," Pugliese said of joining the Blacksburg development. "It's at the center of everything -- you've got the school, the town, a couple of towns nearby ... and it looks like a nice development."

Scott Smith, Fairmount's director of leasing, said the company felt it was important to incorporate local businesses, alongside regional and national ones, to "incorporate the local personality" into First & Main.