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

DATE: THURSDAY, April 7, 1994                   TAG: 9404070159
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MATT CHITTUM STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STUDENT-ATHLETE CONCEPT MAKES MOVERS COMPETITIVE

John Lugar has a manila folder full of glowing appraisals from people served by his moving company. The walls of the company's small Southwest Roanoke office are plastered with photographs,newspaper clippings and posters paying homage to the business's growth.

Virginia Varsity Transfer has come a long way since Lugar, the 24-year-old president and owner, and a friend, Steve Steorts, formed it six years ago.

The transfer business that began as a two-man,weekend operation in 1988 now employs 14 full- and part-time people besides its owner. This summer,during the peak of residential moving season, Lugar expects to take on an additional five to six movers.

Its 1993 profits increased 300 percent over the previous year, Lugar said.

Lugar and Steorts were college freshmen when they started the company. Steorts, then a student at Virginia Western Community College, booked jobs in Roanoke. Lugar came in from Radford University on the weekends,and the two used rented trucks and did all the moving themselves. Later, they hired help as they needed it.

"We had big ideas," Lugar says. "Eighteen years old and ready to take over the world."

Lugar bought out Steorts in May 1990, when Steorts decided to move to North Carolina for school and other personal reasons.

Steorts,now 25 and back with the company as an accounts manager,says he has no regrets about selling out, despite the company's recent growth. "It was the right thing at the right time," he says.

Early in the venture, Lugar and Steorts hit upon their main marketing strategy - the concept of the student-athlete as mover.

"Our whole premise was to be clean-cut," Lugar says. "We were trying to be the opposite of the public perception of the brawny, traditional mover."

The two relied mainly on word-of-mouth for advertising,Lugar says. "We waged kind of a guerrilla war," he says, referring to the company's low-key tactics. "Our plan was to build a reputation,long term."

Lugar considers 1993 the company's breakthrough year. Besides the growth in profit, Virginia Varsity began competing with larger companies for commercial moving jobs. It won contracts to move two out of three departments when Allstate Insurance moved its offices last year.

He attributes much of their sudden growth to a decision to run a dollar-bill-sized advertisement in the Yellow Pages and his concern for maintaining a good reputation. Besides lower overhead,which allows for lower prices, Lugar believes dedication to the company's original concept of the student-athlete mover has contributed greatly to Virginia Varsity Transfer's ability to compete with major moving companies.

So far, their plan is paying off. In October,the company,which had previously relied on long-term contracts with Ryder Truck Rentals for its moving vehicles,bought its first truck, followed by a second in February.

While they still supplement their needs with rented trucks, Brad Harris, the company's general manager,says the trucks are "a symbol of our success."

The company recently branched out into product distribution on a small scale, delivering Snapple for Roanoke Distributing Company,but Lugar is sketchy about Virginia Varsity's future.

"I don't want to tip my hand," he says. "Let's just say we're not ruling out."

Virginia Varsity Transfer can be reached by calling 982-2202 or writing P.O. Box 8984, Roanoke,Va. 24014.

by CNB