THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 10, 1996 TAG: 9610100337
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEPHANIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 53 lines
Hooters, the restaurant chain known for its scantily clad waitresses, wants to open up to six more stores in Hampton Roads, a company official said Wednesday.
The Hampton Roads area, with a wealth of young, military men, already has been good to Hooters, said Greg Knox, the chain's regional supervisor. Hooters has restaurants in Norfolk's Janaf commercial district and in Newport News.
``It's definitely one of our better markets,'' Knox said.
Next month, the regional franchisee, Virginia Wings Inc., will open a Hooters in Hampton off Mercury Boulevard. Meanwhile, it is negotiating with Norfolk's Waterside Festival Marketplace to open a restaurant inside the downtown mall, he said.
The chain's real estate scouts also are looking for sites off Greenbrier Parkway in Chesapeake, the Chesapeake Square Mall area, near Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach and the Oceanfront.
``I think it will be a good addition'' to Waterside, said David Rice, executive director of the Norfolk Redevelopment and HousingAuthority, which has been involved in much of the revitalization of the city's downtown. ``It's a very successful, well-run restaurant.''
But not everyone has welcomed Hooters. Residents in cities like Newport Beach, Calif., and Grand Rapids, Mich., have balked at the prospect of having the restaurants in their neighborhoods. Some have tried to block store openings.
What offends some people are the Hooters moniker and the so-called ``Hooter girls,'' the food servers who wear short, orange jogging shorts and tank tops or T-shirts.
``They don't have to wear anything tight,'' Knox said. ``In wintertime, they can wear long-sleeved shirts, if they like.''
When Hooters opened its first Hampton Roads restaurant in Norfolk off Military Highway, several residents complained. Since then, the hoopla has died down.
Despite the criticism, it's clear that Hooters has a winning idea.
Since 1983, the company has grown to a chain of 196 restaurants. The franchiser is Atlanta-based Hooters of America Inc. Virginia Wings, the regional franchisee, currently has nine stores from the Virginia-North Carolina line to Williamsburg.
Hooters opened a store on Laskin Road in Virginia Beach in May and closed it about a year later because traffic volume was low, Knox said.
``It was not a good site,'' he said.
But Knox says officials now have a good grasp on the Hampton Roads market and are ready to expand.
``Now, we've gotten our act together,'' he said. ``We went through some changes and some stores weren't doing well. But over the last two years, we've really gotten a grip on everything.'' by CNB