Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, September 28, 1993 TAG: 9309280100
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MAG POFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The center plans to take its first telephone order Oct. 15. A grand opening will be scheduled after that date.
The business is leasing the former Sears center on Thirlane Road near Roanoke Regional Airport from First Union Corp.
The 700 part-time people who were laid off when the Sears Telecatalog Center closed last month have first option on the new jobs.
The Alexandria-based company announced in August it would take over the Roanoke operation, adding it to its 11 pharmacies, nine of which take telephone orders.
Thomas McVaney, manager for Retired Persons Services and former manager for the Sears operation, said all of the Sears employees have been notified personally of the openings.
Retired Persons Services also retained the seven former Sears managers.
Hiring is going on now, McVaney said, and employee training will begin shortly. The company's computer hardware and software are being installed.
Retired Persons Services is even using the same telephone number assigned to the Sears center. "Most of our employees knew that one," McVaney said.
Another company representative said the Roanoke center might hire as many as 1,000 workers, and advertising seeking additional workers would begin after mid-October. McVaney called that level of employment a goal for the future. Wages and other employment terms were not disclosed.
Retired Persons Services is an affiliate of the American Association of Retired Persons, although it is not owned by AARP.
The mail-order drug company filled 8 million prescriptions last year. Mail-order prescription sales, still considered in its infancy, is a $2 billion-a-year business.
RPS customers are members of the American Association of Retired Persons, retired military personnel and members of the National Epilepsy Foundation.
by CNB