Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 16, 1990 TAG: 9007160242
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: MARK LAYMAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But not Sunday.
It was the mall's final day of business, but the aisles were almost empty, leaving the dealers with little else to do but pack - slowly, carefully and sadly.
"This is the best antiques mall I've ever been in," said Liz Lindon of Other Times Ltd. "We've made a lot of new friends." Whenever relatives of hers would come by, "they'd always comment on how nice everything looked and how nice everybody was."
The mall has been a big hit with dealers, manager Ron Davidson said. "Everybody gets along . . . Everybody that's been here has done great."
And what about the browsers and the buyers? "Spanky's been good to them. He's given them a cooled and heated building, free popcorn and lemonade . . . This has probably been the biggest draw on the market since it opened."
It drew Mary Ann Sales and her daughter to Roanoke from Clifton Forge Sunday for an afternoon of "antiquing." They didn't know until they saw the sign on the door that the mall was closing. "I liked it very much," Sales said. "I wish we had something like this at home."
It's "rotten" that the old store will be torn down to make way for a parking lot for the new Dominion Tower, Lindon said. "We're real disappointed. This is a bigger part of history than the new tower . . . This mall has done more for Roanoke than Roanoke has done for us." The mall's closing won't put Other Times Ltd. out of business. Owner Susie Cranwell has a store in Blacksburg and a stall at the Snoopers antiques mall in Fort Chiswell.
And if Macher gets permission from the city to open another antiques mall in the nearby Wright Furniture building, "we'll be there with him," Lindon said. "We have no quarrels with him. He's done the best he could do."
Dealers knew almost from the time the mall opened last summer that their days in the old store were limited, Danni Lowman of Danni's Collectibles said. "It wasn't a surprise. You just put it off as long as you can."
Lowman and three other dealers from the mall aren't waiting for Macher to renovate the furniture store. They've rented another City Market storefront, where they will open "12 E. Campbell Antiques and Collectibles" next month.
Janis Miles isn't waiting, either. She had never sold antiques before opening Nifty Nook Antiques in Macher's mall, but now she has the bug. She's relocating to the Curiosity Shop in Salem.
"I hope we can move back downtown" to the Wright Furniture building, however, she said. "We've loved this spot. I'm sorry we have to leave it."
The "we," by the way, includes Janis' husband, a retired federal government employee who was busy doing paper work Sunday afternoon while she packed the glass and china.
While Sunday was the mall's last day of business, Macher has until Friday to vacate the building.
Davidson said Macher hopes to complete the renovation of the Wright Furniture building by mid-October. The city's Architectural Review Board is looking over his plans.
And Macher - who fought bitterly with the city over the fate of the old grocery store - seems to have a sense of humor about its closing.
Taped to the big glass window in front is a sign: "For Those Who Missed a Piece of the Berlin Wall - July 20, 1990 - Take Home a Piece of the A&P."
by CNB