Divine Inspiration’s owner Linda Mitchell, and Sole Mate’s Susan Holiday located on North Main Street adjacent to Kroger, plan to close their doors in the near future. According to the assessment report taken of Downtown Blacksburg in 2001, rents are not stable.
Monthly rent in the shopping area where Sole Mate is located ranges from $10 to $17 per square foot per month depending on the age of the lease.
“Blacksburg rents are too much, and the property tax that you have to pay in Blacksburg for Montgomery County is a lot higher than any of the surrounding counties too É which is a detriment,” Holiday said.
Paul Lancaster a member of the Blacksburg Town Council asserts that there is little to be done to regulate the rents downtown by the council. Rents are assigned by private enterprises.
However, plans to revitalize the downtown area are in effect, specifically on College Avenue and Lancaster hopes that this will make it easier to have more stable rents.
Holiday also expressed that the growth in Internet shopping and discount shopping at stores such as T.J. Maxx and Steinmart hurts business at small boutiques. Also added into the equation are the women who do not shop locally.
“Most Blacksburg women will not shop locally,” she said. “They want to take a day trip to Charlotte or Richmond or Tyson’s É or take a weekend and go to New York. Then they want things on sale here É but I have to sell at full price to maintain a margin.”
Sole Mate caters to the unique age demographic fluctuation that Blacksburg incurs because it is a college town. She sells lines such as Seven for all Mankind, Paige Premium Denim, BCBG and some Laundry items for the college girls during the fall, winter and spring and changed her inventory for the locals during the summer. Even after such accommodations, Holiday found it hard to maintain a substantial profit margin.
Another factor that contributed to her lower profit margin this past year was the football game schedule. Because all the home games took place in September on consecutive weekends, she lost a steady influx of sales from traveling fans. The football season for next year is organized the same and will present no easy challenge for retailers.
Holiday has recently opened a store in Roanoke, which is doing pretty well, she said.
“(I) wouldn’t recommend that anyone do this and expect to make any money at it — I can make expenses and I can cut myself a paycheck É but there is not more than that,” she said.
