DATE: Friday, September 19, 1997            TAG: 9709191175

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY JOHN-HENRY DOUCETTE, CORRESPONDENT 

DATELINE: NORFOLK                           LENGTH:   57 lines

RITE AID IN FIVE POINTS, RESIDENTS HOPE STORE WILL HELP AREA PROBLEMS.

The nation's ``neighborhood drug store'' broke ground Thursday on a Rite Aid pharmacy that residents hope will help revive the Five Points community.

Backed by a marching band, cheerleaders and politicians praising the ``Rite Aid for Norview,'' the company also announced plans to build five free-standing ``prototype stores'' similar to the store on 21st Street in Ghent.

The five additional pharmacies will complete a $16 million investment along Norfolk's high-traffic arteries.

This investment drew several community supporters to Thursday's ceremony. Many said they believe the 11,200-square-foot store, at the corner of Norview Avenue and Chesapeake Boulevard, will help efforts to clean up Norview's crime and drug problems.

The Five Points Partnership, a federation of civic-minded folk, helped plan the 11,200-square-foot store. Partnership member Bev Sell, who wielded one of the shovels during the ground breaking, and other community leaders lobbied the city to change zoning at the corner so Rite Aid could build there.

An abandoned laundry, an adjacent car wash, and housing units, many built in the 1940s, are on the corner. They will be torn down to make way for the store.

``This stuff is going away,'' Sell said, pointing to the white, World War II-era housing. ``To quote Martha Stewart, `It's a good thing.' ''

Besides 20 families who were relocated, few residents will miss apartments where, a few months ago, police arrested 10 people on charges of dealing drugs.

Edwin and Mary Snodgrass, who have lived near Five Points since 1954 and sent their three children through Norview schools, believe the razing alone will push away vagrants and other trouble.

Rite Aid is in the midst of an aggressive expansion program throughout Hampton Roads. The Camp Hill, Pa.-based company is the largest drugstore chain in the United States, and has rapidly expanded its empire on both coasts. In 1996, the company acquired the West Coast-based Thrifty PayLess Inc. for more than $1.3 billion.

On Aug. 27, Rite Aid finalized a merger with Harco Inc. of Tuscaloosa, Ala., and K&B Inc. of New Orleans, giving Rite Aid 3,963 stores in 31 states.

The merger is expected to boost Rite Aid's annual revenues from $11 billion to $11.9 billion.

Five Points is so named because it is a complex intersection with what Rite Aid official David Clarke calls ``high traffic volumes.'' Other big-name chains anchoring corners there include Domino's Pizza, McDonald's, Burger King and one of the Kentucky Fried Chicken/Taco Bell two-in-one stores. ILLUSTRATION: Color photo

GARY C. KNAPP

For the ground-breaking ceremony Thursday, children from St.

Stephen's Episcopal child care center came and watched and, as with

Kayla McKenny, 3, clapped. She got some help from teacher's aide

Christina Sanford.

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