Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 8, 1990 TAG: 9004090416
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: PETER MATHEWS NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG - LENGTH: Medium
The Horans opened Christiansburg Hardware last November, several weeks after road improvements began on Roanoke Street in front of their store.
Their going-out-of-business sale began last month, several weeks before work crews returned from their winter break.
Those events are related, they said.
Had he known the road in fornt of his downtown store would be torn up, Bill Horan said, "I would have never opened these doors" - or bought the store to begin with.
The Horans came to Christiansburg from Litchfield, Conn., where Bill Horan had been an auto mechanic. They sank about $130,000 into the store, including proceeds from the sale of their house.
To say they haven't had much return on their investment would be an understatement. One day shortly after they opened, the day's receipts totaled 52 cents. Things have not improved much: One day a few weeks ago they brought in $4.59.
"This was devastating for us from the beginning," Bill Horan said.
The road project was begun to improve drainage on Roanoke Street and widen it. The road, which begins at town hall and becomes U.S. 11-460 at Hill's Plaza, was a safety hazard because the lanes were too narrow, said Town Manager John Lemley. Christiansburg asked the Department of Transportation for the project in 1973.
The town had no control over the work, Lemley said. The project was designed, administered and inspected by the state.
The stretch in front of the Horans' store was to be completed before Christmas. But cold weather that came earlier than normal prevented crews from paving, said Dan Brugh, resident engineer for the state Department of Transportation.
Some merchants said they could not understand why crews did not return when the weather warmed up in January. The contractor, Pendleton Construction Corp. of Wytheville, must finish the project by Nov. 1, 1990, but had no contractual obligation to start up again when the weather turned warm, Brugh and the company said.
Mark Munsey, contracts administrator for Pendleton, said wet winter months make working then risky. And even if it wanted to, the company could not have finished the paving this winter, Brugh said: Asphalt companies generally shut down for the winter and lay off their crews.
So, several of the merchants along Roanoke Street said, they were left with a bumpy road that some motorists were reluctant to drive on. Other potential customers weren't sure they could legally park inside the orange construction barrels in front of the stores.
Horan was not the only merchant on the block whose business was hurt.
At Town and Country Furniture, James D. Harman Jr. said business was one-tenth of what it used to be.
He complained that merchants weren't informed about the project and compared it to "a man being stalked by a killer. Only in the last seconds of his life, he has the startling awareness that he'll be gone."
Harman also contended the Roanoke Street work isn't necessary.
"They didn't need to make it into a four-lane highway any more than a drowning man needs a glass of water," he said.
Down the street, Foye Farris said business at his Texaco station is off 40 percent to 45 percent since Nov. 1.
One exception is the New Life Bookstore. Business slumped in October but has recovered, said Manager Paula Griffin.
Brugh said last fall that merchants within the construction zone had been informed about the work. More recently, he said he had received only one complaint about a problem - about a blocked entrance to the Texaco station - and that had been resolved.
Bill Horan would like to get back into the auto repair business.
"I'm in a different world when I'm in my back room, taking something apart," he said. Horan has been supplementing his income by doing just that.
"It's a heck of a note when I can make more money fixing a man's lawnmower than standing for 12 hours," he said.
More than anything else, the Horans seem frustrated at their inability to win major orders. Those potential customers seem sympathetic, but they still take their business to established hardware stores.
The Horans said they weren't sure how much the road work was to blame and how much to attribute to other factors - the fact they were newcomers, the downtown location.
But Bill Horan said he thought the work might have gone more quickly if the Roanoke Street merchants had more clout.
"If [the work] was being done in front of Wal-Mart, there'd be some noise," he said. "If you're not in the mall, you're nowhere."
So the Horans, who entered the hardware business with high hopes, have concluded it's not for them.
"We tried," said Barbara Horan, "and now we know."
by CNB