Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 23, 1994 TAG: 9408270015
SECTION: WELCOME STUDENTS PAGE: 70 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
The new faces and changes along U.S. 460 between Christiansburg and Blacksburg include:
A Ryan's Steak House under construction in front of the New River Valley Mall along U.S. 460.
The Texas Steak House is moving from its site in the Market Place to the former Bonanza on U.S. 460.
The Big Boy restaurant near Montgomery Regional Hospital is reopening.
Fazoli's Italian fast food recently unveiled its first Virginia eatery near Pargo's.
And Red Lobster may bring its seafood to the New River Valley.
Some smaller restaurants also are joining the boom, but opening in downtown areas in Christiansburg and Blacksburg.
It's no surprise restaurants have set their sights on the area around New River Valley Mall and the Market Place, said Vittorio Bonomo, an associate professor of finance, insurance and business law at Virginia Tech. Restaurants feed off and complement each other, and they benefit when they are near retail stores.
"The best location is near your nearest competitor," Bonomo said.
"If you want to eat in the NRV, you can come here [the Market Place area] and have a discussion in the car as to where," said Jim Lucas, who opened Fazoli's, a 114-seat fast-food Italian restaurant Aug. 4. Fully staffed, the restaurant will have about 70 employees.
Building near the New River Valley Mall is an especially savvy and perhaps necessary move because U.S. 460 funnels the majority of traffic into and out of the valley. The retail stores and theaters there also attract people who may combine a chance to eat out with shopping or a movie.
Management at the new restaurants seems to have learned that lesson.
"The more restaurants that are in the area that aren't in the exact same concept is good for everybody," said Jack Jamison, vice president for real estate for Ryan's Steak House, a cafeteria-style restaurant that will seat about 400 people and employ 110 when it opens near the end of the year.
Jamison said his company did demographic studies before deciding to move into the valley.
"Our customer profile matches up with the majority of residents" in the valley and in Lynchburg, where Ryan's is also building. The company's target audience, he said, is middle-income families, "of which there are a lot there. They're communities that we feel are underserved."
Jamison, speaking from the company's Greer, S.C., offices, said he is not worried about traffic snarls developing around the mall. "The access to the mall is about as good as you can get. People get frustrated over traffic, but they get more frustrated over a lack of good places to eat," Jamison said.
Better access and visibility are big reasons why the Texas Steak House is moving.
"The access and the visibility are going to be 20 times what it is now," said Reese McAlpin, general manager.
The new location will also offer 195 seats, up from 145 at the restaurant's current spot, and better parking. It will add 20 new employees to the 100 it has now.
McAlpin said she is not worried about a customer base that might be spread thin by too many restaurants.
When the university students return, "There's room for all of us."
Texas Steak House had been scheduled to open this month, but a kitchen fire knocked the unveiling back to the end of September.
The restaurant, which has two years remaining on the five-year lease in its current location, may sublease to an Italian, Chinese or sandwich restaurant, McAlpin said.
Also thinking about moving into the valley is Red Lobster, said Dick Monroe, vice president of public relations from the restaurant's offices in Orlando, Fla.
"We are looking. Nothing has been concluded either way," he said. "Evidently it's safe to say there is substance to the rumor" of Red Lobster scoping the area.
Monroe said the company hasn't chosen a site. "We like malls. We like to be major traffic generators, major focal points," he said. "I'm scared to death if we go into a market and see ourselves sitting by ourselves by the side of by the road somewhere."
The average Red Lobster has 150 to 250 seats, employs between 65 and 120 people, and could open eight or nine months after contracts are signed, Monroe said.
It's hard to predict whether the new restaurants will pull business away from established restaurants in downtown Blacksburg and Christiansburg, or whether they will generate new business.
One downtown restaurateur, Stephen C. Andrews of Backstreets, has been savoring the success as his Blacksburg restaurant has rung up the best summer in its 10 years, despite the growing competition.
"I don't know if it will impact us or not. As the mall area becomes more congested, I think people will try to stay away from it."
The first wave of new restaurants at the mall hurt, but Andrews said that also may have been because of the economic downturn. He has seen no impact from the latest openings.
In Montgomery County, between Blacksburg and Christiansburg, Big Boy is returning after a change in name, ownership and a nine-month shutdown.
The restaurant, purchased at auction in March by West Virginia innkeeper R. Doyle Van Meter, was to open Aug. 25, said Manager Donna Pickett. It seats up to 172 people and employs 60 to 70.
She expects it to fare well this time. Before the closure, "We did a good business," said Pickett, who was assistant manager at the old Big Boy for its 21/2 years of operation.
Last fall, the restaurant's former owner dropped the franchise and changed its name to Our House. But it closed when the owner, Homestyle Restaurant Associates, filed for bankruptcy.
The restaurant will sport a salad bar and a standard menu of sandwiches, burgers and entrees. It hopes to benefit from its location halfway between the Christiansburg restaurants near the New River Valley Mall and the other-side-of-Blacksburg eateries.
As for the Fiberglas Big Boy outside the business, stolen in 1991 and later recovered, Pickett said, "I'm not putting him out there until we get ready to open. He definitely will be bolted down."
Though the U.S. 460 corridor is becoming the valley's restaurant hub, eateries that recently have opened elsewhere say they are not feeling pressure. Many think their menus are unique and there is enough business to go around.
"If you come in and try our food, you'll find it's much different than anything else here," said Mike Hassan, owner of Sal's Italian restaurant on Radford Road in downtown Christiansburg.
The 68-seat, eight-employee restaurant, which has been open for almost nine months, attracts customers from Radford and Blacksburg, Hassan said.
Across from Sal's is Troy's, a 60-seat, 12-employee sub and pizza restaurant, which opened in July, to go along with a similar restaurant in Radford.
"We don't really worry about the competition too much. They don't bother us," said co-owner Dave Anderson, whose business also delivers food.
Trepidations are running low in Blacksburg, too.
"We're the only Vietnamese restaurant in the area, so we don't care about competition," said Myloc Troung, owner the Vietnamese Tea House in the University Mall. Business has been "fine," he said, since he opened in April.
Staff Writer Stephen Foster contributed information to this story.
by CNB