Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 10, 1993 TAG: 9307100171
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Long
University Mall manager Mary Ann Nunn wrinkled her nose and gave a big thumbs down. "Rock bottom," she said, describing the mall shortly after the New River Valley Mall opened in 1988.
Store after store packed up and moved down U.S. 460 to the new mall in Christiansburg; others, like Sidney's, simply shut down. At one point in 1991, only six stores remained in the University Mall's 26 spaces.
Nunn, a member of the mall's maintenance crew then, said the shopping center was also plagued by poor management. "It was a real mess," she said.
The mall seemed desolate at times and its future bleak. Once the premier shopping hub in Blacksburg, it was being held together by its anchors: Heironimus, Rose's and People's Drug - which has since been bought by Revco. "There was nowhere the place could go but up," Nunn said.
That's exactly what it's done - in a big way. Fueled by cheap rental rates, more marketing and its new manager, the mall steadily has filled up.
In June, leases on the mall's two final vacancies were sent out, and last week Nunn had to turn away a prospective tenant. "It was a dream come true," she said. "I never thought I would see the day."
Though its spaces soon will be full, University Mall is far from a typical retail outlet. Its comeback has been fueled by businesses that aren't normally found in shopping malls. In fact, the mix is so eclectic that a person could live at the mall 24 hours a day.
There's a book store, drug store, dry-cleaner, restaurant, hair salon, weight club, aerobics studio, furniture store, computer dealer, community theater and even a community college branch.
In January, New River Community College opened a learning center in the mall, and Playmakers & Co. built a theater there last spring. Vicky Chastain, leasing director for EBL&S Property Management, the mall owner, said the mall is a "community center" as much as a shopping center.
"From what I can tell, it's just the right mix," Nunn said. "Although I'd still like to get a record store and a jewelry store."
Printer's Ink bookstore has been in University Mall for more than a decade, but store manager Emily Stanton said there was some talk of moving from the mall when "the bottom fell out" around 1990.
"We decided to stay because the parking here is great and the location is excellent," she said. Stanton said business has increased steadily since last September, and Printer's Ink will soon expand by knocking down a wall and adding a Hallmark cards franchise to its book operation. "We are really happy with the way things have turned around. . . . I would like it if there were more retail stores in the mall," she said. "Anything is better than an empty space, though."
Chastain said much of the mall's resurgence can be credited to the energetic Nunn. "Mary Ann keeps the tenants happy," she said.
Chastain said that not all of University Mall's past problems were tied to the New River Valley Mall. In the late 1980s, EBL&S brought in Richard I. Rubin Co. to manage the mall. "They really screwed things up," Nunn said. Tenants weren't happy, the building wasn't maintained.
In 1991, EBL&S took over again and named Nunn manager. "That's when we came to the realization that the only way to survive was to have the lowest price in town," Chastain said.
EBL&S also got a marketing firm to develop a color brochure touting the mall; it was mailed to more than 15,000 prospective tenants in Blacksburg and throughout the state.
Cheap rent - that's the mall's biggest draw:
Doug Hampton, co-owner of Computers We Got'em, said the business opened at University Mall just over a year ago because the price was right. "Good rates make a difference," said Chris Lowry, American Dream Futon owner.
One of the mall's newest tenants is Images by B, a hair salon that used to be across the street at Bonomo's Plaza.
Owner Brenda O'Reilly said she moved in May to take advantage of the mall's rental rates and so her business could get more exposure. "I've been very amazed at how many people do come through this mall," she said.
Blacksburg Finance Director Mary Kemp said retail receipts dropped from $17.1 million in 1987 to $9.1 million in 1991. In 1992 they increased to $11.7 million.
"It certainly looks like it is starting to rebound," Kemp said.
A Giles County native, Nunn's family did most of its shopping at the University Mall. "I saw my first elephant in this parking lot when I was a teen-ager, she said, recalling her summertime trips to the circus that set up in the mall's parking lot.
Nunn said her next goal is to improve the appearance of the mall's common area by making it "lighter and brighter."
The mall has also started a new advertising campaign to lure old customers back to the mall. Billboards touting the mall can be found all over the New River Valley from Giles to Pulaski counties. "Shop with an old friend," they read.
"I lot of people think this mall has shut down," Nunn said. "I just want to scream and shout `Hey, we're still here.' "
by CNB