ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601280021
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DIANE STRUZZI STAFF WRITER
AS DOORS CLOSED on white-glove days downtown, other doors opened on toss-it-in-the-cart.
No one ever shopped 'til they dropped at the downtown Heironimus.
Roanoke downtown's grand old lady of shopping was a quiet place, with glass display cases, wood paneling and a basement luncheon nook that gave shoppers a place to get off their feet.
It closed Saturday just as an entry into the 21st century of bargain-hunting - the Wal-Mart Supercenter - had its first big weekend. A building with concrete facade, metal rafters and fluorescent lights that offers every conceivable item, it's a far cry from Heironimus' old style of shopping.
"It used to be you'd put on the white gloves, get dressed up and go downtown to go shopping," said Kelly Creamer at Heironimus. "I hate to see a tradition like that dying."
But shopping has become more of a chore than a pastime. And one-stop shopping is the buzzword of the 1990s.
The Supercenter at Valley View Mall continued its grand opening festivities Saturday. Shoppers who negotiated the traffic and found parking discovered a consumer's mecca.
Inside a store that could hold more than three football fields, shoppers could fulfill almost every desire. There's a hair salon, travel agent, bank, McDonald's, even Nintendo games set up for computer-game-curious customers.
"I think it's great; you only have to make one stop. If they don't have it, you don't need it," said Bill Gamble of Blue Ridge.
Gamble didn't come in to purchase anything specific. But he found something anyway, taking a cart and filling it with bath towels.
A life-size peanut walked around handing out samples of nuts. Clerks offered mini-pancakes, pizzas and sips of soda. Shoppers marveled at the sights, craning their necks to view the tops of the shelves.
"It's just like the county fair," said a sales clerk as he passed some shoppers.
Some got lost, wishing they had a map to navigate from grocery store to housewares to bike shop.
"It's too big," said Chriss Davies-Ross, an avid Wal-Mart shopper.
But she managed to find her way, filling her cart with shoes for her children, a dress for her daughter and a 100-ounce jug of bubbles.
"Well, you know, summer's coming," she said, pointing to the bubble mixture.
Over in the produce section, a mound of cauliflower was topped by a TV monitor playing a video of how to boil the vegetable. Edith Clark looked a bit bewildered as she cradled an array of groceries.
"I didn't intend to get [but] one or two things," Clark said, with a cup of low-fat yogurt, two soup cans, an eyebrow pencil, lotion and denture cleaner in her arms.
"I think I like this better" than shopping the old way, Clark said. "Everything is fresh. You can eat if you get tired. I think it's nice. I think it's beautiful."
Saturday was Lisa Burchett's fourth visit to the Supercenter. But this time she wasn't buying, she was preening.
"I hate to shop, and I like to have everything in one place," she said, as a stylist snipped away.
"It's huge," Burchett said. "It has everything. You can get your tires changed, and while you're getting them changed you can get groceries. ... That's what I like. You do what you have to do and go home."
Since Wednesday, she has bought groceries, put a boom box on layaway and purchased some trash cans and a laundry basket.
Across town, at the corner of Jefferson Street and Church Avenue, the purchases were less varied, but the shoppers were just as enthusiastic.
They gave the downtown Heironimus a fitting tribute. They picked and rummaged and bought and reminisced.
Displays were empty. A lone purple jogging suit hung on a rack in the men's shop.
An employee consolidated the remaining pairs of shoes in the shoe shop. Finding your size was a victory of sorts. The luncheon nook stood dark. The price board looked like it had been caught in a time warp: Pimiento cheese sandwiches for $2.35, chili for $1.45 and Jell-O for only 50 cents.
"I've been shopping here about 25 years," said Tish Banghart, a retired accountant at Norfolk Southern, who picked through a heap of shoes. "No, longer than that. Let's say 31 years. It's more family-oriented and a hometown store. ... I liked coming downtown and sharing their ideas, bargains and fashions."
The store held memories of children on Santa's knee, of gifts bought and cherished, of afternoon stealaways from work to shop a sale.
"It's a lot quieter here" than in the supercenters, said Edith Keeney, who doesn't frequent giant stores.
She poked through the Christmas ornaments Saturday, telling her sister to be on the lookout for any heart ornaments.
"Whenever I had an appointment downtown, I always came here to buy something," Keeney said. "I like to shop to relax."
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: STEPHANIE KLEIN-DAVIS/Staff. 1. It was a long hike fromby CNBthe only open parking spots Saturday at Roanoke's new Wal-Mart
Supercenter 2. Edith Clark (left) and Irma Harper intended to get
only one or two things at Wal-Mart, but soon needed a cart. 3. Tish
Banghart picks through a heap of shoes, ending 31 years' shopping at
Heironimus. color. 4. Lisa Burchett pays her fourth visit to the
Wal-Mart Supercenter, this time to have her hair done Saturday.