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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 19, 1993                   TAG: 9305190032
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

TALBOTS IS ALMOST HERE - BUT NOT WHERE YOU THOUGHT

Rather, Talbots will be the cornerstone of The Forum, a shopping center planned in Southwest Roanoke County at Starkey Road and Virginia 419, next to the Roanoke Athletic Club.

Maury L. Strauss, a Roanoke Valley residential and commercial developer, said Tuesday the Talbots store will be the first of four buildings in the 22,800-square-foot center.

Strauss and Monet LeMon, spokeswoman for Talbots, confirmed that a lease has been signed. She said 10 to 15 people will be hired for the new store.

LeMon said the deal at Towers dissolved when the center's owners could not get bank financing to build a free-standing building for Talbots and other tenants on the Colonial Avenue side of the shopping center.

Strauss said he will finance his own project and has hired Loeb Construction Co. to build it. He said building applications are pending with the county and the Virginia Department of Transportation.

Talbots officials said last year the company wanted to locate in the Roanoke Valley because it already had a substantial customer base here based on sales from its mail-order catalog.

LeMon said it was "unfortunate" that the first site didn't work out, but Talbots does not need to be in a high-traffic center to be successful.

She said Talbots is a destination merchant and many of its stores are in "village-type" settings like the Strauss center or, in some markets, the only retailer among professional and business offices.

However, she said, Talbots would be happy to have other retailers, including those that sell women's clothing, in the center.

The proposed four buildings would accommodate as many as 12 stores, including Talbots, or as few as four, he said. The 2.3-acre site will include 116 parking spaces.

Strauss said he'll start the second building soon after breaking ground for the Talbots.

Talbots, based in the Boston suburb of Hingham, Mass., is privately owned by the AEON Group of Tokyo. It has 306 stores, including eight in Japan and four in Canada. The operations include 243 Talbots stores, 25 Talbots Petites, 17 Talbots Kids, one Talbots Intimates and eight Talbots Sale stores.

The company's growth has accelerated in recent years, LeMon said. Five years ago, it opened 20 to 25 stores annually. This year it expects to open 50 stores.

Talbots' sales for the fiscal year ended Jan. 30 were $636 million, up 22 percent from 1991 and 13 percent in stores that had been open at least a year. The latter, called same-store sales, are considered the best measure of a retailer's performance.

The company specializes in conservative working women's clothes in misses sizes 4-20 and petite sizes 2-14. Most of Talbots merchandise is sold with its own private label. Typical of its merchandise is a single-breasted tailored jacket priced at $108 and a print dress for $138.

Talbots stores carry the same clothes as its catalog, but sometimes not in as wide a selection. A customer can order catalog merchandise from stores.