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

DATE: WEDNESDAY, November 29, 1995                   TAG: 9511290053
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FOR BUSINESS HELP, TRY 1-STOP SHOPPING

Roanoke-area business owners can now get tips on exporting, use of technology and general advice from a single place - and most of it at no charge.

The Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce said Tuesday that the Roanoke office of the Center of Innovative Technology has moved from Virginia Western Community College to the chamber building at 212 S. Jefferson St. in downtown Roanoke.

The CIT is a state-supported enterprise to spread technology and create jobs by helping businesses solve problems. The Roanoke branch of the Herndon-based organization has operated for six years from a hard-to-find trailer-style building at the community college.

The center will share a 3,200-square-foot suite with the chamber's export and small-business coaches in the building that the chamber purchased earlier this year as its new home.

The suite will be marketed as the Regional Business Center. No other community in the state has placed the same three disciplines under one roof, officials said.

"It's ... one-stop shopping convenience," said John S. Jennings, who dispenses general business advice as executive director of the Blue Ridge Small Business Development Center.

The center, open weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., sports these names on its shingle: Gary R. Atkinson, the top CIT official in Roanoke; Judy Dunn, his assistant; Joseph A. Robinson, international marketing manager for the state Department of Economic Development; Jennings; and Douglas W. Murray Jr., also a small-business coach.

by CNB