Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 11, 1995 TAG: 9511120023
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL AND MAG POFF STAFF WRITERS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
As the lunchtime crowds hurried past the corner of Jefferson Street and Church Avenue, Junius Gaither paused to remember.
"I recall Heironimus years and years back," said Gaither, looking up at the big square building and then out at the passers-by.
Most of them didn't give the department store a second look.
"Used to be able to come into Heironimus and get just about everything you needed. Furniture, clothes, everything."
Lately, though, he said, the downtown store just hasn't seemed to carry as much as that well-stocked Heironimus of memory. Today, just two of the building's five floors are open to shoppers; the first floor is the main sales area, while the basement houses a lunch counter and sales racks. There's no furniture for sale these days; now, the Roanoke-based chain's downtown store focuses on clothing and accessories.
And so it wasn't a big surprise to Gaither - or to many other Roanokers - when The Dunlap Co., the Texas-based owner of Heironimus, announced Thursday that the store will close when the company's lease expires next month.
"It's going to be sad to lose Heironimus," Gaither said as he pushed open the door. His wife, who's retired now, worked at the downtown store for 27 years. She really hates to see it go, he said.
He shook his head. "This is the only department store left downtown."
While long-time Heironimus customers like Gaither may mourn the loss of the local landmark, they aren't being left without shopping options. The chain's five other locations will remain open, as will the Heironimus Great Additions gift and home accessory shops. While these suburban stores may not have the big-store feel the downtown location has, they do have their own loyal customers, and they may even find their business increase as former downtown customers search for a new place to shop.
Customers like Mary Radcliff, who, with her husband, Lawrence, came out of the downtown store clutching shopping bags.
They've shopped at the Heironimus store at Crossroads Mall, she said, but they really like to eat at the lunch counter downtown. Now, they'll probably just go to Crossroads more often.
"It's a shame," she said as they headed for their car. "I guess I'm too old for change."
The closing also will create a major vacancy in downtown Roanoke, according to commercial real estate brokers. It is a property that won't quickly find a new use, some said.
"I hate to say it, but [the Heironimus building downtown] would make an excellent parking lot," said Realtor Stuart Meredith of Hall and Associates of Roanoke.
Meredith said downtown has "a glut of office space," some of it directly on the market and the rest available for sublease. Downtown Roanoke does not need more office space, he said.
The 80,000-square-foot building is too large, he said, for subdivision into smaller retail spaces.
Also, Meredith said, it is common talk in the real estate industry that the building contains asbestos, which could create environmental problems if it were disturbed during renovation. Removing it would make any remodeling more expensive, he noted.
Michael M. Waldvogel of Waldvogel, Poe & Cronk Real Estate Group Inc., said the Heironimus property is best suited for a downtown department store, "but I don't see it happening." He said department stores are not opening in downtowns.
Nor could he see a speculative venture through a conversion into an office building. He pointed out that the former Miller & Rhoads department store building at Campbell Avenue and First Street was converted into an office building and "we don't need another." Plenty of office space is available downtown, Waldvogel said.
He said the property might become a future development site. One conceivable use of the land, he said, might be for an apartment building for people who want to live downtown.
What is needed, Waldvogel said, is "a long, hard look at conventional and unconventional approaches to it."
Millie Moore, a commercial real estate agent for Boone & Co., said the obvious use is retailing on the first floor, with office and residential use of the upper floors.
The first floor contains nearly 10,000 square feet, which is too large for a single downtown retailer, Moore said. She suggested dividing the ground floor among two or three tenants, which would make leasing difficult but not impossible.
Moore noted the store's closing will come amid mixed news for retailing along Jefferson Street. Although a restaurant and wine shop are slated to open soon, two other properties across Jefferson Street from Heironimus are for sale: the Lazarus building and the Read Lunsford building. Other vacancies also exist to the south, Moore said.
Crestar Bank handles the property for its owner, the Edgar Thurman Estate. The banker who manages the trust was not available Friday, so the asbestos situation could not be clarified.
Crestar spokeswoman Freda Carper said the property will be rented again or sold. In the short term, she said, the Thurman Foundation will be hurt by the loss of income, but the long-term outlook is good.
The Heironimus store is the Thurman Foundation's primary asset and the income from it supports various charities that provide services to children. Carper said the foundation was reviewing applications for 1995 grants..
by CNB