ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, May 31, 1996 TAG: 9605310026
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY STAFF WRITER
Brendle's, one of the Marketplace shopping center's remaining anchor stores, will close between July 15 and 31, corporate officials say.
The retailer already had announced the store, which employs about 30 people, and one in Tanglewood in Roanoke would shut its doors as part of a companywide restructuring that would close 18 of the retailers 30 stores and put 500 employees out of work. Brendle's Inc. declared for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in April, the second such filing for the retailer in four years.
Brendle's officials at company headquarters in Elkin, N.C., had no word on what might move into the Marketplace site. Officials at Faison & Associates, the Charlotte, N.C., real estate firm that is leasing agent for the shopping center, could not be reached for comment.
But there could be good news on the way for the beleaguered Marketplace, which saw its biggest store, Wal-Mart, close in March to move into a much larger Supercenter on the other side of the busy U.S. 460 retail corridor.
Wal-Mart spokesman Keith Morris at company headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., said Wednesday the firm has made progress in finding a replacement tenant for the 85,000-square-foot Marketplace location.
Morris said Wal-Mart has been "in discussion with several national tenants" and "we're optimistic we'll have the site filled in the near future."
Ever since announcing the retailer would leave the Marketplace, Wal-Mart has said it would find a replacement tenant, either a national chain or a local retailer. But for months while Wal-Mart prepared to move into the Supercenter, the retailer said it had made no progress in finding a replacement.
"We're further along than we have been previously," Morris said, though he would not say what companies Wal-Mart has been talking to.
And across U.S. 460, the New River Valley Mall has announced new tenants.
Mall manager Mike Poldiak said a Dairy Queen will open within a month, and Spanky's restaurant will replace Charley's in August. Poldiak said he expects the restaurant to be a bigger draw than Charley's.
In November, R.C. Theatres will open three new theaters at the mall. The new theaters will have 9,000 square feet of floor space and will be located on the side of the mall's food court that is now unoccupied.
Poldiak said he is in negotiation with two other national tenants, which he would not name, and expects to have signed leases by August. At that time the mall would be 80 percent occupied, a high water mark for the shopping center which has been plagued by empty stores since opening in 1988.
In the other major retail change in the U.S. 460-Peppers Ferry Road area, officials at Grand Piano, the Roanoke-based furniture retailer, say they plan to step up their schedule to consolidate their Blacksburg and Radford stores in the former Heironimus store space next to Lowe's. Grand Piano now will close its downtown Blacksburg and Radford stores in late June and open in the 40,000-square-foot former Heironimus store by Aug. 1.
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ALAN KIM/Staff. The Brendle's store in the Marketplaceby CNBshopping center is currently conducting its store closing sale.
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