Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 9, 1991                   TAG: 9104090187
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV4   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: CATHRYN McCUE NEW RIVER VALLEY BUREAU
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG                                LENGTH: Medium

CHRISTIANSBURG ROSE'S TO CLOSE IN JUNE

"We'll be closing about 60 days from now," store manager William Hurt said Monday. "We'll be locking our doors."

Competition from new retailers, mounting layoffs and unemployment in the New River Valley contributed to the company's decision to shut down the Christiansburg store, said Jo Ann Nowell, spokeswoman for Rose's Stores Inc. in North Carolina.

Among the company's 256 locations in the Southeast, 12 others also will close this summer. The Hampton store is the only other Virginia location clsoing, Howell said.

Competition and the weakened economy led the company to pare down stores that have been "underperforming," she said.

Hurt said sales at the 11-year-old Christiansburg store have been "up and down like a roller coaster" for the past year. Still, he was surprised when the company told him Friday his store would be eliminated, Hurt said.

"I'd say everybody was pretty shocked, including myself."

The company will try to relocate the employees to other stores in Southwest Virginia and West Virginia, he said.

Two other Rose's managers in the New River Valley said Monday they would do what they could to hire the Christiansburg workers.

"Right now, I have a full house," said Pulaski store manager David Harrison. But former Rose's employees would take priority as openings come up, he said.

Blacksburg store manager Sam Woolwine said he, too, had no openings, but probably would have part-time jobs available as Virginia Tech and the local high schools let out for the summer.

The Pulaski and Blacksburg stores employ about 60 people each. "Those stores are doing fine," said Howell. "We have no plans to close those stores."

Harrison said Wal-Mart, which recently opened in Pulaski, is not "hurting me as bad as I expected."

Also, he said, many people refused to shop at Wal-Mart because of the town's prolonged fight to keep the store from opening.

"We're going to hang in there," he said.

Hurt said the Christiansburg store would be closed either Thursday or Friday for inventory but otherwise would maintain normal hours until it shuts for good.