CENTER HAS BUILT-IN CLIENTELE

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

DATE: THURSDAY, February 6, 1992                   TAG: 9202060399
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: W1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium
CENTER HAS BUILT-IN CLIENTELE
Graham-White Manufacturing Company had no interest in selling a half-acre tract near its Salem plant until Susan and Tony Williams approached them with a proposal to build a day-care center.
The idea was appealing. It was the closest thing to on-site child care for Graham-White employees - and for three other nearby businesses.
The result of the Williams' persistence and Graham-White's agreeing to sell the property sits on Colorado Street in the form of a brick and wood siding building with peaks and towers resembling a fairy-tale castle.
Home Style Day Care Center, a nearly $500,000 project, opened Sunday. The center's 6,700 square feet of primarily pink and blue interior space will house up to 130 children, from ages 2 1/2 to 12.
"It's the thing of the future for business and industry to have this kind of service available," William Laub, vice president and general manager of Graham-White said. "We hadn't been interested in selling the property; we kind of liked the open space. But the idea of a child care center appealed to us very much."
Susan Williams opened Home Style in 1987 in the old Langhorne Pharmacy building in downtown Salem. But after three years, the thriving business outgrew its original quarters. Expansion was the logical solution.
The Graham-White property - across the street from the company's offices on Colorado Street and close to Rowe Furniture Corp., Mechanical Development Co. and the Joan Cook Inc. mail-order company - seemed a prime location for Home Style's expansion, Williams said.
With four businesses in close proximity, the center had a built-in clientele, she said.
Graham-White conducted a survey to gauge interest in a near-site day-care center. The response was good. The other businesses expressed similar interest.
"Industrial day care is very important," said Williams, who as Home Style director, will oversee a staff of 15. "Almost every mother has gone back to work."

by Bhavesh Jinadra by CNB