THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, August 29, 1994 TAG: 9408310597
SECTION: BUSINESS WEEKLY PAGE: 6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY RICHARD GRIMES, SPECIAL TO BUSINESS WEEKLY
LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
Dorothy Bennett Werth has an aerial photograph of Wards Corner from the early 1960s.
The intersection looks sparse, almost crisp from the scarcity of traffic. It's little like today's Wards Corner - a place jammed with empty storefronts, confusing stoplights and a go-go bar.
Last month, the intersection changed again when Werth closed her Abel's Frame and Art Supply, a landmark.
A late-July auction marked the last day for the small shop and its sister store in Virginia Beach. After surviving the huge migration of population to the suburbs, Abel's came across a bigger hurdle: computers and superstores.
Now Werth has headed in a new direction. She plans to start a small mail-order business for fine-art supplies. While that will take Werth's business into the future, it marks the end of a storefront that had stood at Wards Corner since the late 1940s.
``It was not an easy thing to go through,'' said Werth of the closing. ``But I've been in it for so many years it's time for a change.''
Since Werth and her first husband bought the store in 1949, Abel's has sold basic tools of the trade such as paint brushes and protractors.
Today, computers have replaced protractors, though not at Abel's.
While many other art stores have changed their merchandise, Abel's has continued to carry fine-arts supplies and pricey drafting equipment, including drafting tables and protractors,
Just before the closing at Wards Corner, store assistant manager Michael Bateman gestured toward a display case filled with compasses of all different sizes and colors. Some even had punkishly bright colors.
``Nobody uses these anymore,'' Bateman said. ``Everything's done on computer. If you want to draw a circle, you click on the right tool and you get any size circle you want.''
Neil Bennett, Werth's son, saw the transition in the business. A business teacher at Commonwealth College in Norfolk, he had worked at Abel's for about 16 years.
``The marketplace has changed,'' he said. ``Customers are buying art supplies by direct mail, and you can get most drafting supplies at places like OfficeMax.''
Werth sees a new niche for Abel's - mail order. She plans to slowly build a catalog business providing fine-art supplies to artists starved for noncomputer tools.
``Artists are getting more particular, more experimental, and they can't find the fine surfaces and papers to work on. People don't mind waiting a little longer for nice supplies,'' she said. ``Definitely, it's the right time to specialize.''
The last time Werth switched direction was in the early 1950s. Her family had just bought the business from Jerome and Leroy Jacobs. But Abel's market soon changed drastically.
``When we originally opened, we sold house paint,'' Werth said. ``But eventually, you could get it cheaper at department stores. So we switched to art supplies.'' Werth said she's sad to see the storefront close, but she points out an advantage. She expects to have more free time.
``I don't like to use the word retire,'' she said. ``I plan to do some relaxing.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color Staff photos by Lawrence Jackson
Above: Dorothy Bennett Werth closed her art store, Abel's Frame and
Art supply, in Norfolk's Wards corner last month. The store, in
business since the 1940s, has provided supplies for generations of
artists.
Left: A shopper takes advantage of the bargains at Abel's before the
Norfolk store closed in July. A sister store in Virginia Beach also
was shut down.
by CNB