ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 16, 1996 TAG: 9604160041
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
ANDREA REID, who worked for Logan Furniture in Salem until the owners retired last spring, said the closing of that shop, which carried upscale, traditional furniture, left a hole in the Roanoke-area furniture market.
When Andrea Reid opened her furniture shop last October, she had heard plenty of talk about how bad the furniture market was and how poorly retailers were doing.
But she never reconsidered her decision, she said, and now she's beginning to see results.
"I'm not saying that the furniture business is booming," said Reid, owner of Reid's Fine Furnishings on Grandin Road. "But everybody needs a piece here or there, or accessories."
In fact, Reid has tripled her inventory - from 11 furniture and accessory lines to 33 - in the last seven months. And she'll pick up at least one more line this month, when she attends the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, N.C., a twice-yearly furniture expo.
Reid, who worked for Logan Furniture in Salem until the owners retired last spring, said the closing of that shop, which carried upscale, traditional furniture, left a hole in the Roanoke-area furniture market.
``People kept saying, `Where am I going to go now to buy furniture?''' she said. ``There was a niche.''
Although uncertain employment and high consumer-debt levels kept overall consumer demand for furniture low during the last year, many specialty shops such as Reid's have survived quite well. It has been the midpriced retailers, whose customers are more likely to charge purchases, that have borne the brunt of the downturn as consumers have shied away from adding to their already mounting debt levels.
"The clientele I cater to," Reid said, "if they want some nice things for their house, they're usually going to buy them."
Reid sells some of her former employer's antiques, but she doesn't want to make Reid's Fine Furnishings into another Logan Furniture, she said. Logan's inventory was, for the most part, traditional; Reid said she tries to offer a more eclectic mix of furniture and accessories.
"If someone had told me two years ago I would have a leopard-print sofa in my front window," she said, pointing to the animal-print couch prominently displayed behind plate glass, "I would have thought they were crazy."
Reid's eclecticism will be on display at Downtown Living, a showcase of Roanoke's downtown apartment spaces that opens April 23. Reid's arrangement - designed by Gary Sexton of Chateau Designs, who also helps Reid set up her shop displays - features an oriental rug, a damask-covered sofa, a carved Italian mirror, an art deco iron screen.
"I had to go with whatever I had here," Reid said. "I didn't have time to order anything special."
She and her silent partner, Bill Waide, own the building in the block between the Grandin Theatre and the Roanoke Natural Foods Co-op, so Reid will be able to expand the shop if business keeps growing. Right now, the store occupies about 2,500 square feet of the building's first floor; the rest houses a variety store and storage. The upper floors are occupied by a ballet school, a driving school and several studios.
"I used to dream I'd win the lottery," Reid said with a laugh, "so I could open a furniture store like this."
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: PAUL L. NEWBY II/Staff. Andrea Reid aims at an upscaleby CNBmarket at Reid's Fine Furnishings on Grandin Road. color.