
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, May 18, 1993                   TAG: 9305180064
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

PEEBLES TAKING HESS'S NEW RIVER SPACE

The lease hasn't been signed, but Peebles, a South Hill department store chain, apparently will open in space being vacated by Hess's Department Stores Inc. at New River Valley Mall in Christiansburg.

Steve Hannah, director of marketing for Peebles WS & Co. Inc., said the company expects to sign a lease this week. "It looks like it will happen," he said.

The South Hill-based department store has 49 stores in eight states. It has 16 in Virginia, but none in the western part of the state. Its closest store to the Roanoke and New River valleys is at Piedmont Mall in Danville.

Tom Thomson, senior vice president and retail analyst for Wheat First Securities in Richmond, said Peebles puts emphasis on apparel lines and likened its stores to J.C. Penney Co. outlets.

"If I remember correctly, it's not a full-blown department store with house goods and all that," he said.

Kenneth Gassman, a retail analyst with Davenport & Co. in Richmond, said the 100-year-old Peebles chain traditionally has operated in small towns and only recently began expanding to bigger markets.

In November, Peebles opened its first store in the Richmond area in a 59,000-square-foot store formerly occupied by Thalhimers.

The family-owned chain posted sales of about $145 million in 1991.

Assuming the deal is struck, Peebles will join Penney, Leggett and Sears, Roebuck and Co. as the New River Valley Mall's anchor stores.

Hess's, which is owned by the shopping center's parent, Crown America Inc., closed last week. The Christiansburg store was the last of Hess's Virginia stores to shut. As recently as two years ago, the 76-store Hess's chain had 14 stores in Virginia.

by CNB