Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, November 30, 1995 TAG: 9511300043
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
When Woolworth Corp. closed downtown Roanoke's last remaining variety store at the end of 1993, the community mourned it as the end of an era and said nothing could replace the 90-year-old landmark.
Now, almost two years later, a new variety store - complete with a Woolworth-esque lunch counter - will try to fill the void.
Husband-wife team Mun Kwang Cho and Han Ja Cho, owners of the Style Plus clothing and accessory store on Campbell Avenue, will open Campbell Mart in the former Woolworth building. They expect to be in business in the next two weeks, Mun Kwang Cho said through an interpreter.
The new store will combine the inventory from Style Plus - clothing, jewelry, African-American hair products - with household goods, groceries and greeting cards. The lunch counter will serve breakfast, lunch and snacks. The counter won't open right away, Mun Kwang Cho said, because the cooking area needs extensive remodeling.
The deal, which has been in the works for almost a year, was closed Tuesday, according to Will Trinkle, who has handled the transaction for C.W. Francis & Son Realtors. The closing was delayed because the building had been owned by nine separate interests, he said Wednesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Right now, the Style Plus store at 22 Campbell Ave. looks like the overstuffed closet of a compulsive shopper. Racks of clothing crowd the floor, shelves of hats and scarves line every inch of wall space, trays of cosmetics and hair accessories clutter the counters.
Cho, who also operates a Style Plus store on Melrose Avenue, said he had been searching for a larger downtown location for years. When he opened the small Campbell Avenue shop six years ago, he had bigger dreams, he said, but his plans just didn't fit into the 2,500-square-foot storefront.
That will change once the store moves into its new location. Style Plus could fit, said longtime employee Linda Esparza with a laugh, into one small corner of the 15,000-square-foot Campbell Mart.
The space was, after all, large enough to house a piece of Roanoke history. As variety stores - Kress and McLelland, to name just two - closed over the years, Woolworth alone kept ringing up sales and serving up sandwiches. And then the announcement came that it, too, was leaving, after 90 years in business.
It's too early to tell yet whether loyal Woolworth customers who were left without a lunch counter and a store filled with bargains will flock to Campbell Mart. But Cho said he and his wife are prepared to work 24-hour days and to take whatever advice they can get from other downtown merchants.
"I'm always delighted to see growth of retail in the downtown area," said Larry Davidson, president of Davidsons menswear store on Jefferson Street. The Market area has shown itself to be friendly to "eclectic" stores, he said. If the Chos can define their niche and attract a specialized clientele, then they may do well.
"It's a real opportunity," Esparza said. "Because we're going to be able to carry more goods, it will be better for us and better for downtown Roanoke, too."
by CNB