Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993 TAG: 9302280170
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C4 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KEVIN KITTREDGE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
NEW RIVER HESS'S IS CLOSING
Hess's Department Store, one of the anchors of the New River Valley Mall, will close its doors, the mall's manager confirmed Saturday.Mall manager Tom Sheets said reports the store will close are "accurate," but would not say when it will happen.
"There are plans for another store to replace it," Sheets said. He declined to name the store, or to elaborate on the closing.
Hess's New River Valley store officials would not comment Saturday, referring all questions to corporate spokesmen in Allentown, Pa., who were unavailable.
A newspaper advertisement has announced an "inventory sell-off" at the store, and the store itself was peppered with sale signs Saturday.
Hess's already had announced plans to close all its remaining Virginia stores, save the one in Christiansburg. Only two years ago the chain had some 14 stores in the state.
The Tennessee-based department store chain Proffit's Inc. has taken over six Hess's stores in Virginia, including one in Bristol. Leggett will lease one in Richmond.
In an earlier interview, Sheets said one reason the Christiansburg store had been spared so far was that Hess's parent company, Crown American Corp., also owns the mall.
"To assert that this store would close without a replacement tenant is absolutely absurd," Sheets said at the time.
One of the mall's four anchors, along with JC Penney, Sears and Leggett, Hess's closing would be a blow to a shopping center that already has several vacant store fronts, were there not a replacement in line.
Heironimus President Dick Lynn said it is not true his store will be leaving its current home at the University Mall in Blacksburg to fill the space to be vacated by Hess's.
"If we are, I'm not aware of it," Lynn joked Saturday. "We did have some discussions, but nothing came of it."
Lynn said his department store will stay where it is.
Business appeared to be slow at Hess's late Saturday afternoon, despite the storewide sale.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.