Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 22, 1995 TAG: 9501240004
SECTION: ECONOMY PAGE: ENRV-2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Medium
At the end of the 18th century, the town, then called Hans Meadow, was a beacon on the Wilderness Road. It was the last and best place for settlers to resupply before heading west into the desolate unknown. They could buy hats for a time from a young Davy Crockett and hobnob with Daniel Boone.
Today, shoppers in Christiansburg can buy from the likes of Leggett and Lowe's, Wal-Mart and Kmart.
And they have been coming in droves from throughout Southwest Virginia to do just that.
Retail sales in Christiansburg have increased by more than 42 percent, to more than $376 million in fiscal year 1993-1994, since the town annexed the intersection of U.S. 460 and Peppers Ferry Road on Jan. 1, 1988, from Montgomery County. Within months the New River Valley Mall opened there, as did the Marketplace a year later.
Statewide, taxable retail sales have increased by more than 16 percent from 1988 to 1993.
Blacksburg's retail figures rose 5.5 percent during the same period, to more than $157 million in calendar year 1993. Part of the growth that has occurred at the intersection of U.S. 460 and Peppers Ferry Road has come at Blacksburg's expense in recent years, with stores like Kmart and Heironimus moving from locations in Blacksburg to new sites near the mall and Marketplace.
"They definitely had an effect when they all opened. They gave us a real run for our money in those early days," said Mary Riley, owner of Mainstreet Bazaar in downtown Blacksburg. She has seen a resurgence in revenue recently by selling unique items that the chain stores don't carry.
Riley and Judy Murray, co-owner of Blacksburg's Fringe Benefit, said some of their customers shopped in downtown Blacksburg during the Christmas season because of traffic near the mall.
Traffic notwithstanding, Christiansburg's retail growth is slated to continue during 1995. On the drawing board are a 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Superstore, to be built across Peppers Ferry Road from the mall, a First National Bank office at the Marketplace, and a Wendy's near Kmart. Marketplace managers also say they "have prospects" for the soon-to-be-empty Wal-Mart space.
Retailers at the Marketplace, which opened in 1989, said sales were strong during Christmas, but no one is sure how Wal-Mart's move and the construction of the U.S. 460 bypass will affect business.
The loss of Wal-Mart "probably will" mean a loss of revenue for her business, said Debra Nelson, manager of the Dollar Tree.
But Wal-Mart's departure probably won't have a big impact on sales at Goody's, said manager Mike Jones. Instead, he is watching development near the Lowe's, close to where the U.S. 460 bypass will go.
He confirmed that Goody's has "contemplated" leaving the Marketplace, but the store's lease runs to 1999.
Despite Wal-Mart's move and the potential for other retailers to shuffle about, by all accounts the area around the mall and Marketplace has solidified its place as the valley's retail center.
"Every time you go over there, you're almost amazed at what's going on," said Pearisburg Town Manager Kenneth Vittum, one small-town official who bemoans the revenue his town has lost to stores in Christiansburg. "I don't think there's any argument about Christiansburg becoming or being the regional shopping center."
Tom Sheets wouldn't disagree. Sheets, manager at the mall, reports that 49 percent of shoppers come from outside of the mall's primary trade area of Blacksburg and Christiansburg. Seventeen percent, according to customer surveys, come from Radford, Dublin and Pulaski County. Most of the rest come from places throughout Southwest Virginia.
Forty percent of the mall's customers shop there at least once a week and 64 percent at least twice a month.
Those figures, Sheets said, are above the industry average and "are about what we expected."
Retailers throughout the area report strong Christmas season sales and expect 1995 to continue the growth trend.
"We foresee a good year," said Dick Workman, manager of Leggett.
"If everything holds good, [1995] should be better than last year," said Gary Roark, manager at Brendle's.
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