Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 4, 1994 TAG: 9403040161
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A shop named for the mythical firebird that rose renewed from its own ashes is getting a new owner - and thus, a new lease on life - before its going-out-of-business sale ends.
That's happening at Phoenix-The Earth Store on Roanoke's City Market.
Gayle Fox opened the shop in 1990 to sell items - ranging from jewelry to sand-sculpture trays - targeted mostly at the environmentally-aware, meditative-contemplative market, also described as people looking for something different.
The venture proved popular. Fox, then a single mother with two teen-agers, supported her family on revenue from the shop.
It's not the sort of business that will make you rich, "but you can make a living off of it," she said.
But a man named Tom Hester came along and persuaded Gayle Fox to become Gayle Hester. They married in April, and, soon after, moved to the San Francisco area, where he works for Visa International.
Gayle Hester has been commuting to Virginia once a month to oversee the shop, but she said this week that running a business long-distance is just "a little more difficult."
When she lived in the Roanoke area, "I was in there every day. I did all own accounting and went on buying trips," she said. She also served as store manager, a role Mary Eberhardt has filled since June.
The store's lease ends in September, so Hester said she thought the timing was right to close the Roanoke shop and open a similar one in California.
As soon as the "closing" signs went in the windows, however, Hester began to hear from potential buyers, including Bill Gaul and his wife, Dremma.
The Gauls run Burger in the Square and The Three Li'l Pigs Barbeque, both eateries in the City Market Building a half-block up Campbell Avenue from Phoenix.
"I just hated to see Phoenix close," Bill Gaul said. "Plus, we were looking for something else."
Gaul said he has reached an agreement with Hester to buy the business, but is still working out legal and financial details.
So the firebird renews itself.
by CNB