Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, November 6, 1994 TAG: 9411040069
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: F-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
From the time S.H. Heironimus and L.R. Brugh of Hagerstown, Md., breezed into town in 1890 to set up a retail store, until a year ago when the chain was sold to a Texas company, the community claimed Heironimus as its own. And even if consumers didn't like the way it grew in some directions and contracted in others - especially at the downtown store - they didn't complain much.
But, for the current owner, The Dunlap Co. of Fort Worth, Texas, the honeymoon is over.
"It's gone downhill," some shoppers say. But, "downhill" from where?
The truth is that many of the changes in the stores' merchandising were under way during the previous local ownership. Dunlap has merely accelerated them.
Shoppers are partly right, though, the new owner has a different philosophy from the previous owner, said Larry Drombetta, who has been with Heironimus since 1985 and became president when Dunlap bought the business.
That philosophy:
"An advertised price is the price. We don't have temporary promotions. Once the price goes down, it says down."
Dunlap does not market with one-day sales, the way Heironimus did previously. Since the Dunlap philosophy is just going into effect, customers likely can expect fewer promotions than in the past. Also, shoppers won't see as many upper-end fashions in Heironimus stores, because, frankly, those clothes don't sell well in an Heironimus kind of store.
For example, the Liz Claiborne label still is displayed in volume at Heironimus at Towers Shopping Center in Southwest Roanoke, but none of the line of women's apparel is stocked at the company's store across town, in Towne Square Shopping Center in Northwest Roanoke.
Claiborne hasn't sold as well as in previous years, and it especially doesn't sell well at its top price. A $100 pair of Claiborne slacks offered for sale at $60 does all right, but "you can't afford to do a lot of that," Drombetta said.
"We are a moderate price store. We are not perceived as the best store in town," he said.
But, Drombetta believes he has heard customers on several issues. He has beefed up the shoe department, making it a store-operated department instead of leasing it to shoe merchandiser as in the past. The stock now includes Bostonians and Rockports.
He also has made an extra effort to bring in more dresses and suits, sometimes too many so that the stores looked stuffed and the displays suffered, he admitted.
But, perhaps the biggest change is happening in the part of Heironimus that doesn't sell clothes. Work is under way to convert The Petite Place store at Tanglewood into a hybrid Great Additions, which is Heironimus' housewares and linens division.
The Tanglewood store will feature bedroom, bath, kitchen wares and gift items in a themed presentation.
The Dunlap Co. has adapted Heironimus' Great Additions theme for the housewares sections of its other retail chains. There is now an M.M. Cohn Great Additions in Little Rock, Ark., and a Kerr's Great Additions in Huntsville, Ala.
This development is somewhat amusing to Dick Lynn, under whose ownership the Great Additions stores were developed. The Great Additions store was born because Heironimus wanted to expand at Towers but couldn't find any space adjacent to its existing department store, so the solution was to create two stores.
Great Additions proved to be not only a viable housewares and home item operations, but the places also include the popular Greenhouse restaurants.
Now, Drombetta is doing a second generation Great Additions using some ideas from the original stores and some twists Dunlap has given the places elsewhere.
Another change is on the horizon for the company, too. Some of the offices now housed in the downtown Roanoke store on Jefferson Street will move at the first of the year. Drombetta said he hasn't decided on a location, but they likely will go near one of the other local Heironimus stores.
This, of course, raises a major concern of downtown watchers and that is will Heironimus leave downtown. The downtown store accounts for a small percentage of the company's business, but its lease there doesn't expire until December 1995.
Drombetta declined to comment on the future of downtown store, except to say that the decision will be made by Dunlap when it needs to be made.
Maybe the community's challenge is to begin thinking about other uses for that conspicuous corner at Jefferson and Church.
by CNB