THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, August 9, 1995 TAG: 9508080098
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 12 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LORI A. DENNEY, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
EVER HEARD THE STORY about the woman who went to visit relatives in South Carolina but her luggage got an all-expenses-paid trip around the world?
Well, it's true.
And Janet Cowan can attest to it. The woman was one of her customers at Va. Beach Luggage, Accessories & Repairs.
``That bag had been everywhere, and it looked like it, too!'' said Cowan, who, with her husband, Ken, has owned Va. Beach Luggage for the past 10 years.
While Janet Cowan covers the front desk and retail end of the business, a store manager and two other full-time employees delve through a stack of luggage brought in for repairs from walk-in customers and also from Norfolk International Airport.
According to Cowan, the company is one of the few in Virginia authorized as manufacturer warranty honorees and also one of the few in the area where damaged luggage is brought in from the major airlines.
It's not unusual to see 200 to 300 pieces of luggage a week for repairs, she said.
The most common type of repair is broken wheels. That costs about $8 or $9 for walk-in customers. Then there are handles that break or clasps or locks or zippers. The list is endless, but then so are the tools and gadgets in the back of the store including shelves of parts, straps and pieces of leather.
Usually, the business can do luggage repairs within 48 hours. Luggage that is brought from the airport is sent by UPS to the owner.
The damage from travel is usually more extensive, says Cowan. Often luggage arrives at the Timberlake Shopping Center store with huge rips and tears.
Sometimes, the damage is not repairable and the Cowans are told to replace it with something similar, courtesy of the airline.
That's easy for the business to do, too, because they routinely stock several brands of luggage including Samsonite, Lark, American Tourister, Delsey, Boy, and Hartmann. Prices can range from the low-line of $19 for an attache case to thousands of dollars for complete name brand sets.
Since opening the company in 1985, Cowan has noticed that people are not as fashion-conscious as they used to be.
``Older people still buy the matching sets,'' said the Timberlake resident. ``Corporate attorneys and lawyers, they've got to have the status symbol cases.''
Most business travelers know what they want when they get here,'' she continued. ``Most people who come in off the street, they're looking at the price versus how much they're going to use it.''
The store stocks every imaginable kind, size and type of luggage. There are garment bags, ski bags, expandable bags and hard- and soft-sided cases. Almost every case features some type of handle or wheel for easy transportation.
There also are ski bag covers, expandable totes and just about every accessory you'd need for travel, including extra luggage straps and hidden wallets for protecting valuables.
Although Janet Cowan doesn't consider herself talented enough to do repairs, she does clean the luggage and dye the repaired or replaced parts to match the rest.
She and her husband don't plan to open another store. They would, however, like to someday rent space in an industrial park so that their employees in the repair business could have more space.
When they first opened 10 years ago, several things happened in their favor the first year or so. Two local companies that repaired luggage went out of business, meaning that the Cowans got most of their customers.
And a company in Baltimore, Md., also went out of business, so the airlines sent even more business to Va. Beach Luggage.
Of course, with the ups came the downs. Five years into the business, they faced a set-back when what had been Piedmont was taken over by USAir. They were not in line to repair the luggage damaged by USAir. On top of that, they had just moved their business from one small space to larger quarters in the Timberlake Shopping Center.
``We were scared for a while,'' Cowan admitted. ``But we kept plugging away and contacting people, and we counted on our regular customers to see us through, and they did.''
Ken Cowan, the company's founder, works full time as a gate person at Norfolk International Airport. He saw the need for a luggage repair business while working with Piedmont's baggage service. He began the business out of the couple's garage for two years before they opened a retail space.
Today, Ken Cowan does primarily the accounts payable for the business and lets his wife, brother Gary Cowan and store manager Dale Schneider run the business.
``I figured I could run the place and read and paint while sitting in the front,'' Janet Cowan, who likes to paint in acrylics, said with a laugh. ``But, that hasn't happened, because we've been busy from day one.'' MEMO: Va. Beach Luggage is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday
and from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Call 467-2031. ILLUSTRATION: Photos by L. TODD SPENCER
Janet Cowan and her husband, Ken, founded Va. Beach Luggage,
Accessories & Repairs 10 years ago. Janet covers the retail end of
the business, while Ken handles accounts payable.
Gary Cowan, Ken's brother, repairs the zipper on a damaged piece of
luggage. Airline baggage handlers keep the company busy.
by CNB