Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 29, 1995 TAG: 9503290052
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When developer Maury Strauss announced plans for the small shopping center in May 1993, he said he would put up the four planned buildings on a timetable driven by the speed at which he attracted tenants.
Today, the place is almost finished; the fourth building, now going up, is rumored to be the new home of E.I. Randle, a womenswear retailer and longtime tenant at Towers Shopping Center. Randle owner Henry Vaughn says no papers are signed, but his business is being courted by Strauss.
If Strauss lands E.I. Randle and gets the shoe store and the coffee shop he's hoping for, he will have a grouping unlike any other in the Roanoke Valley.
Except for Toad'ly Kids, which moved from Hunting Hills Plaza on U.S. 220 South, and Travel Professionals, which moved from Century Business Center at Plantation Road and Orange Avenue, the other stores are new to the area ... and apparently doing quite well.
Talbots, the international catalog and retailer of classic women's clothing, was the first tenant in the fall of 1993 and right away said sales were exceeding expectations. The same thing happened at Jos. A. Bank Clothiers and Mimi's Plus Ltd., their managers say.
Jos. A. Bank at The Forum is a new concept for the Maryland company. Established in 1905, it sold direct to the public through catalogs for decades. Later it opened a few retail stores. The shop in Roanoke is both.
Catalog items can be ordered and received in three days; the store also has a stock of men's clothing that can be bought off the rack at prices that range from $295 to $425 for men's suits. Women's professional business wear is not for sale in the store, but it is available through the catalog.
The Roanoke shop opened in September as one of 10 combination stores and in February beat the other nine in sales, said manager Rosemary Hough, who most recently was in charge of women's clothing at John Norman at Tanglewood.
Like Talbots, Jos. A. Bank knew it had a ready-made market in Roanoke because of catalog sales from this area.
Martin and Rebecca Williams, owners of Kringles, an educational toy store that opened in November, didn't have the advantage of a built-in customer base, but they have been pleased, Rebecca Williams said. Kelley Clark, who opened Mimi's Plus Ltd. on Feb. 20, said sales have been "wonderful." She runs the shop with co-manager Carolyn Fink.
Prices at Mimi's range from $40 for a shirt to $500 for some dresses; sizes are women's 14 to 24. This is the second Mimi's; the first is in Greensboro, N.C. They are owned by Carolyn O'Dell, Clark's mother and a former buyer for Bonomo's.
The Roanoke store was an opportunity for Clark, a former broker with Ferguson Andrews & Associates Inc., to have a try in the retail world. Her mother warned: "Don't be upset if you don't have any customers right off," Clark said.
"We had them from the beginning," said Clark.
by CNB