Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, October 28, 1993 TAG: 9310280371
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-8 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: By PAUL DELLINGER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
``We hope to be open the 10th of December,'' said Charles Travis of Blowing Rock, N.C. ``That's pretty optimistic, I think, but that's what we're shooting for.''
Travis and his wife, Joyce, have operated Old World Galleries in the tourism-centered town of Blowing Rock for about 15 years. The Pulaski store will be their first satellite operation.
Pulaski Town Council approved a $29, 250 loan for the venture Tuesday night, with the money coming from Urban Development Action Grant funds earmarked for new business. Another $29,250 loan will come from NationsBank.
The Travises will invest 10 percent of the project cost themselves. The value of the building, after renovations, will be about $66,000.
Mayor Gary Hancock said the store ``represents a real opportunity for the town.''
He said people come to the Blowing Rock store from all over the country to see its stock of handmade rugs.
People from all over the country buy them, too. Travis, contacted at his home Tuesday night, said he had just shipped one to California this week.
He said he and his wife anticipate that the Pulaski store will also draw customers from beyond Virginia.
``We hope to draw from areas beyond the state borders. Here in Blowing Rock, we ship rugs out all over the world,'' he said.
The store will be located at 84 W. Main St. Travis said he hoped to take possession of the property around Thanksgiving, and spend several weeks on renovations and giving it a facelift.
He will employ a local manager and possibly an assistant.
``We're very excited about this project. It is our first satellite store and we look forward to working with the community economic development and Main Street project, and want to support the community in terms of hiring locally,'' he said.
Travis said he learned about Pulaski becoming an antiques center from ``a friend of a friend'' who visited the revived downtown and advised him to look into it.
He was then contacted by Roscoe Cox, director of the Pulaski Main Street program for the past year. It was Cox who lured many of the other new shops to downtown Pulaski.
``It's a neat community. At least that's my conception of it, and I think there's a lot of potential,'' he said.
The store will offer rugs similar to those sold at the Blowing Rock store along with antiques.
Travis said there are no machine-made rugs in his inventory, and that each rug is one of a kind. ``Let's just say every item is original art,'' he said.
He also offers some furniture settings, though rugs and jewelry will be the main focus of the Pulaski store.
Travis, who grew up in Blowing Rock, began working with an art gallery there when he was still in high school. He stayed with the gallery about eight years, becoming an auctioneer for it and getting a background in the kind of items he and his wife now sell.
``I guess my true love is handmade rugs,'' he said. ``They're just fun to work with.''
He started his own business in 1979.
Travis served three one-year terms as president of the Blowing Rock Chamber of Commerce, and is now completing his first four-year term as a town commissioner, which corresponds to town council member in Virginia.
He said the chamber work was much harder than serving on the town's governing body. He is seeking a second term, and was ``on the grill'' at a candidates' forum Tuesday night at the same time Pulaski Town Council was approving his UDAG loan.
Travis also has served on the board of directors of High Country Hosts, a promotional or ganization covering not only Blowing Rock but the region around it.
by CNB