ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, February 5, 1997 TAG: 9702050071
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MEGAN SCHNABEL STAFF WRITER
BARNES & NOBLE will be opening a bookstore in October, and Carmike Cinemas plans to replace the three-screen theater with a 10-screen multiplex.
Just months after the interior of Tanglewood Mall was renovated top to bottom, the sawhorses are going back up as two supersize tenants prepare to move in.
Book and music retailer Barnes & Noble Inc. has announced it will open a 25,000-square-foot superstore at the mall in October.
And Carmike Cinemas Inc., which operates the Tanglewood movies, said it will replace its three-screen theater with a 10-screen multiplex.
But this time, the construction work won't clutter aisles inside the mall. Both tenants will occupy free-standing buildings in what's now part of Tanglewood's parking lot.
The building that now houses the theater will be demolished and the new facility built in its place, said a Carmike spokesman. The theater will close after the last showing Thursday night and is scheduled to reopen in time for the Christmas movie season.
Columbus, Ga.-based Carmike operates 2,500 screens nationwide, including Salem Valley 8 and Valley View.
Barnes & Noble will build in the space between J.C. Penney and Kroger, said company spokeswoman Jennifer Wolfertz. No construction details were available.
The store will offer 150,000 book titles and 50,000 music titles. It also will house a cafe that will serve coffee, cold drinks and snacks.
New York-based Barnes & Noble, which has more than 400 superstores nationwide, also operates the B.Dalton Bookseller inside Tanglewood. That store will remain open, Wolfertz said.
For the mall, the openings follow a sometimes bumpy year, when the disarray of remodeling drove away some customers and the closing of the Brendle's discount store left a gaping vacancy. No one at Tanglewood Mall or at Kane Realty Corp. in Raleigh, N.C., which manages the property, could be reached for comment Tuesday.
But some local business owners are wondering what the giant newcomers will do to existing merchants.
Lolly Rosemond, who with her husband, John, owns Ram's Head Book Shop at Towers Shopping Center, said publishers' sales representatives who have watched superstores move into other towns have given her an idea of what to expect when the Barnes & Noble opens.
"Generally, the effect is to have some falloff in the beginning," she said. But after a year or so, if the independent bookstores are strong, their business will revive. "We certainly bounced back from Books-A-Million last year," she said.
Small stores need to concentrate on what they do best, Rosemond said: offering personalized service and hiring knowledgeable employees who love books.
And movies, said Julie Hunsaker, owner of the Grandin Theatre, which over the last 10 years has established itself as Roanoke's art theater.
"In a way, it's going to hurt everyone," she said. "There are already too many screens here. We already fight over product. And we usually lose, because we're the little guy."
The Tanglewood cinemas always have been the Grandin's biggest competition, she said, because they fight for the same clientele. The expansion of the theater and addition of the Barnes & Noble will make the competition more fierce, she said, especially if Carmike begins showing artsy movies to fill those 10 screens.
But she said she's confident that the Grandin's core clientele won't stray. With its focus on art and alternative films, the theater has established its niche, she said. And the fact that it's locally owned - and usually offers cheaper tickets than Carmike theaters - will keep customers coming back.
"Our customers come to us for certain reasons," she said. "Our theatre is different. We may not have surround sound ... but we have a certain charm they don't have."
LENGTH: Medium: 75 linesby CNB