ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, January 28, 1996 TAG: 9601260038
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: G-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: KENNETH SINGLETARY AND TODD JACKSON STAFF WRITERS|
The Wal-Mart Supercenter that opened last week in Roanoke was the first of its kind to arrive in Southwest Virginia.
But it's by no means the last: By the end of this year, four more Supercenters are scheduled to open in this part of the state.
Christiansburg and Franklin County are next on the list.
CHRISTIANSBURG
What's going to happen to Christiansburg's Marketplace shopping center when Wal-Mart moves across U.S. 460 to its new Supercenter this spring?
That's the big question among retail observers in the New River Valley, and not even Wal-Mart officials know the answer.
An 80,000-square-foot Wal-Mart store now anchors the Marketplace, a strip shopping center of about two dozen stores. The chain wasn't able to expand that store, so it decided to construct a new 200,000-square-foot building from scratch on the other side of the road.
No one can say what will happen to the space that Wal-Mart will leave vacant, now leased from Charlotte, N.C.-based Faison and Associates. When the Supercenter opens in March or April, Wal-Mart officials say they want to find a new tenant for the current space, but so far they have no takers to sublease the store.
"I've been back and forth with our general office in Bentonville on that. Believe me, it is a high priority to get somebody in," said Herb Conley, manager of the Marketplace Wal-Mart.
Officials in the company's Bentonville, Ark., headquarters say their first choice is to find a local tenant, but the New River Valley may already have too much retail space, especially among storefronts designed for large stores.
The former Rose's space in Blacksburg University Mall, for example, has been empty since the retailer departed six years ago. And at Gable's Shopping Center, across town, Harris Teeter is building a grocery store in a space that formerly was a Leggett department store. That site was empty for seven years after Leggett moved to the New River Valley Mall.
That mall has never been full since it opened in 1988.
Wal-Mart officials say their second choice for the Marketplace space - and they say this is a distant second choice - is to convert it into a Sam's Club, a Wal-Mart division that offers bulk goods in a no-frills atmosphere, or a Bud's Discount Outlet, which sells overstocks, close-outs and other items.
Such a move would require extensive renovations to the building, said Keith Morris, a Wal-Mart spokesman in Bentonville
In the Marketplace, store managers are trying are optimistic about their future despite Wal-Mart's pending departure.
Debra Nelson, manager of the Dollar Tree store beside Wal-Mart, believes the big store's departure won't hurt. Her customers know all her items are one price, and a cheap one at that, and for that reason will go out of their way to stop by.
"I don't think it will hurt us that much. ... We're hoping it won't, anyway," she said.
"Wal-Mart doesn't do much for our traffic. No, I'm not in the least bit concerned," said Ray Rosno, manager at Holdren's.
He said he has heard lots of rumors about what might happen to the Marketplace space and does not know what to believe.
"We'll just have to wait and see," said an assistant manager at Brendle's. "It'll depend on what moves in."
Also unclear is the Supercenter's impact on the valley's grocery businesses. Archie Fralin, a spokesman for Kroger in Roanoke, said Kroger has gone up against Wal-Mart Supercenters elsewhere in the mid-Atlantic region.
"The Wal-Mart Supercenters are a very formidable competitor," he said. But "we think we can compete against them very favorably."
In recent years, Kroger remodeled and expanded its store in Blacksburg's University Mall because of that location's big sales volume, Fralin said. The same may be in store for Christiansburg's Kroger.
FRANKLIN COUNTY
Site grading and preparation work have started on a 39-acre parcel off Virginia 40 east of the Rocky Mount town limits.
Before Wal-Mart announced it was building a store, Franklin County's only chain retailer was a Rose's store, about a mile from the superstore site.
Wal-Mart's pending arrival in the county prompted local officials to hire a Virginia Tech consultant who held meetings to discuss how small businesses can survive the giant retailer's high volume and discount pricing.
Wal-Mart has increased the need for the four-laning of an already congested section of Virginia 40 that runs in front of the store site. The road project, which is on the county's six-year plan, isn't set to begin until late summer or early fall of 1997, said Doug Beatty, the county's resident engineer for the Virginia Department of Transportation.
The superstore has also upped the ante between the Rocky Mount Town Council and the Franklin County Board of Supervisors over development of the 40 East corridor.
Wal-Mart has chipped in a considerable amount of money - the exact amount hasn't been disclosed, at Wal-Mart's request - to help run town water and sewer lines to the store site.
The extended utilities will provide a framework for the town to run additional services to subdivisions, the Franklin County School Board office, and other businesses in the corridor.
Those businesses will probably include several restaurant chains - Wendy's and Taco Bell to name two - which are now negotiating to purchase land near the Wal-Mart store.
The town, which is considering annexation of the area, has asked the county to help fund the remaining portion of the sewer upgrade.
The county hasn't decided if it will participate.
The Wal-Mart store is scheduled for completion later this year.
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