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

DATE: THURSDAY, September 28, 1995                   TAG: 9509280023
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THEY'RE MOVING FURNITURE TO OTHER SIDE OF THE STREET

JUST 3 YEARS OLD, the City Market's Twist & Turns store is doubling its showroom space with a move to the old Grand Piano Exchange building.

Twist & Turns' move from one side of Campbell Avenue to the other isn't a big one, geographically speaking, but that doesn't mean it's easy.

Just ask owners Joe and Cynthia Cassell, who have been turning the first floor of the long-vacant Grand Piano Exchange building into a showroom for their custom-made metal furniture and accessories - if you can get them to stop rearranging furniture for a minute.

"We've been working 16-hour days for the last three, four, maybe five weeks," said Joe Cassell, sitting for a moment in a metal chair with a panther design worked into its back.

The 3-year-old company is leaving its City Market location at 122 Campbell Ave. S.E., where it had run out of showroom space, to take up residence at 129 Campbell. The store will open at 10 a.m. Saturday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The remainder of the building, which was purchased in March by Roanoke real estate investor Martin Hellkamp, is being turned into apartments and office space, and much of it is being returned to its 1910 appearance. Stained glass over the front entrance is one of the reproductions, Cassell said.

Because the new 4,500-square-foot showroom is more than twice the size of its old location, Twist & Turns will expand its furniture lines with new designs, Cassell said. The store also will sell juvenile furniture, including kid-size bunny stools and tables.

By the end of the year, Cynthia Cassell said, Twist & Turns stores may be opening in Tampa and Palm Beach, Fla., and in Detroit and Pittsburgh. These stores, like the Twist & Turns showrooms in Richmond and Charlotte, N.C., would be owned by independent operators who pay to use the store name and sell furniture designed and manufactured at the company's Roanoke factory.

The Roanoke Twist & Turns already is preparing for the expansion, Cassell said, pointing to baker's racks featuring palm tree and flamingo designs.

"See, we're gearing up for that Florida market," she said.

by CNB