ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 9, 1997 TAG: 9703100052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: EMILY DUNNE AND MIKE HUDSON THE ROANOKE TIMES
Grand Piano revived a decade-dead tradition with its warehouse sale Saturday.
It was still dark and cold Saturday morning when Evelyn Andrews got to Grand Piano & Furniture Co.'s warehouse in Roanoke.
"I wanted to be the first in line, the first in the door, and the first to get what I want," Andrews said. "I'm looking for a bargain."
She got her wish - at least as far as being first in line. She arrived at the warehouse at 5 a.m., and no one else was there. She was alone until 6:15.
But by the time the doors opened at 8, the line stretched more than a tenth of a mile - two and three eager shoppers wide - down Rhodes Avenue Northeast.
Near the back, Ira Taylor was anxious. "My wife told me to come out here and get her something," Taylor, of Roanoke, said. "One thing - in and out. A curio cabinet."
The problem was, he'd gone to the wrong warehouse before finding his way into line. "I said, 'Oh, oh, I'm in trouble.'''
A few people in line near Taylor chuckled.
"Y'all laugh, it ain't funny," Taylor said, laughing himself.
Andrews and Taylor were two of the thousands who showed up for the revival of a Roanoke shopping tradition. Saturday was the first day of Grand Piano's first warehouse sale in a decade. Grand spokesman Steve Davis said employees counted 1,300 people coming through the door in the first 30 minutes - and then got too busy to keep counting.
"I would estimate that it was easily 4,000 people" in all, Davis said. "We were all running around like crazy."
Some customers even camped out in tents in the parking lots so they could get there early, Davis said.
Many waiting in line on Saturday could remember the annual warehouse sales that the Roanoke-based furniture chain held from 1967 to 1987. Cheryl Weber recalled hearing about the big sales when she was growing up in Lynchburg.
"This is a big deal in Roanoke," said Weber, a physical therapist who now lives in Roanoke, as she waited to pay for a coffee table. "I bet there won't be as many people here tomorrow. There probably won't be anything left."
Davis said not to worry: Employees unloaded four tractor-trailers of more stuff Saturday afternoon, so the warehouse would have most items replenished when the sale resumes today from noon until 6.
Not everyone found what they were looking for Saturday.
Duane Howard of Roanoke saw the newspaper ads promising "SAVE UP TO 80%,'' but he said he found "up to" was the operative phrase.
He was there for a sofa, but "I don't think I saw one sofa at 80 percent off," he said.
Howard said much of the merchandise at the warehouse seemed to be the same price as what he's seen in the past at Grand's downtown Roanoke clearance outlet. "A lot of this stuff is not in perfect condition, either," he said.
Although he was disappointed, he still bought something: a curio cabinet for $127, about half off.
Davis estimated the average discount was 50 percent, but he said there was plenty of merchandise reduced much more. Some discounts - mainly for "scratch-and-dent" items and discontinued styles - were "in excess of 90 percent off. You could get discounts that were almost ridiculous."
Anyone who came early enough could have found a five-piece bedroom suite, once priced at $1,729.95, for $598 - a 65 percent discount. People who like to put their feet up could have found a large green leather ottoman, once priced at $1,125, for $298 - a 74 percent discount.
Many seemed to find what they wanted. The first couch was heaved off the loading dock onto a customer's pickup truck at 8:17 a.m.
"People were crazy - pushing, shoving," said Al Flora Jr. of Roanoke. "I heard one lady screaming, 'That's mine. No. No.' We found a couch some little kid was sitting on. He said, 'No. My mommy's buying this.' She'd told him to sit there and save it until she got back."
Taylor, on a mission mapped out by his spouse, made his way through the line and found what he wanted. He was heading out the door at 8:45, after grabbing two curio cabinets for $90 apiece. "I'm happy," he said.
Flora was happy too, but for different reasons.
He and his wife, Cathie, are looking to build or buy a house soon, so they came to the sale with her parents.
By 9:15, Flora was punching an old schoolmate in the arm and laughing, "I got through it - and we didn't buy anything!"
They saw several bedroom suites they liked, he said, and "we would have walked away with them." But "I saw that 'Sold' sign and I said, 'Whew.'''
Seriously, though, he figured they would end up having to pay more elsewhere in the long run.
"I wish we could have gotten them," he said. "But," he added with a sly smile, "I'm happy for now."
LENGTH: Medium: 93 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: CINDY PINKSTON/THE ROANOKE TIMES. 1. Crowds examine aby CNBrow of headboards during a packed furniture sale at Grand Piano &
Furniture Co.'s warehouse Saturday. color. 2. Hundreds of customers
arrived early for the 8 a.m. start of the sale. One customer was
standing outside at 5 a.m.