ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, April 9, 1997 TAG: 9704090013
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: MARKETPLACE
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL
Despite the fact that windows of the Grand Piano & Furniture Co. store have been papered over for the last few days, and despite a recent ominous newspaper ad proclaiming "Something is about to happen to the last big retail store in downtown Roanoke," the landmark retailer is not going out of business.
Instead, the Campbell Avenue store is getting a new identity. Starting Thursday, all four floors will carry only clearance merchandise.
This is the culmination of a process that began about two years ago, said Steve Davis, the chain's vice president of advertising, when space inside the downtown store was divided in half, with two floors set aside for discount merchandise.
The store will be renamed Grand's Furniture Outlet and will be open longer hours: 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday and Saturday, and 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday. During the grand opening, which will last about a month, the store also will be open Sundays from 1 to 6 p.m.
The downtown outlet will carry damaged items, overstocks and discontinued furniture from the chain's retail stores. The outlet also will sell manufacturers' overstocks, Davis said, as well as one-of-a-kind floor samples from the twice-yearly High Point, N.C., furniture market, where manufacturers show off their new merchandise to retailers.
The reason behind the changes is fairly simple, Davis said. If you've ever moved, you know how easy it is to scratch and dent furniture along the way. Now multiply that damage by Grand's 19 stores and 11 warehouses in four states, Davis said, and you get an idea of why the chain needed a full-scale clearance center.
The clearance department in the Grand store opposite Valley View Mall has been closed, he said, and will be replaced next month with areas featuring La-Z-Boy and Berkline furniture, plus home theater equipment.
Design of the downtown store's interior has changed a bit, Davis said. With new lighting and some new displays, the downtown store is "very much a furniture outlet," he said. Grand also will hire some additional salespeople.
But one important Grand Furniture tradition isn't changing:
They'll still give out cold bottles of Coca-Cola to everybody who comes through the door.
By now you've probably noticed that Rite Aid has arrived. The drugstore industry's 800-pound gorilla - with more than 3,500 stores, it's the nation's largest chain - is in the middle of opening celebrations at its first Roanoke Valley locations. The two stores - on Hardy Road in Vinton and on Chestnut Street in Salem - opened quietly a week or two ago and now are advertising via direct mail circulars.
These are the first of 10 Rite Aid locations scheduled to open in the Roanoke-Lynchburg market over the next two years. The Southwest Virginia stores are part of the Camp Hill, Pa.-based company's plan to open 1,000 new stores.
Megan Schnabel covers retail, consumer affairs and advertising for The Roanoke Times. You can reach her at (540) 981-3140 or megans@roanoke.com
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: THE ROANOKE TIMES FILE. Come Thursday, all four floorsby CNBof the downtown Grand Piano store will carry damaged items,
overstocks and discounted furniture.