Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 6
FROM THE EDITOR
NEW LIFE FOR A DOWNTOWN
Mast General Store is Coming!
Our town of Roanoke, Virginia has not had a
downtown retail anchor for nearly a quarter
century. That will change-and gloriously so-
come next year.
By KURT RHEINHEIMER
W
hen I was a boy in the '50s and
'60s and visiting my grandparents in Radford, Virginia, one of
the big occasions for my grandmother and her three daughters
was a shopping trip to downtown Roanoke.
For there, within the space of a few bustling
blocks, were the retail palaces of their time for
this part of the world: Multi-floor department
stores complete with everything from dresses
to davenports, along with elevators, escalators
and those strangely comforting "boing boing"
signal noises in the background.
In downtown Roanoke in that era the prime
specimens were Leggett's, Miller & Rhoads and
Heironimus. At their apex, just before the coming of the malls (in our town, Crossroads was
the first, in 1961), those stores were a strong
The old Heironimus building in downtown
lure, perhaps most strongly to ladies dressed to
Roanoke, Virginia, will get new life when Mast
their near-Sunday best to spend a day wanderGeneral Store arrives next year.
ing their floors, wondering at their wares, and
GEORGE DAVIS PHOTO COURTESY ROANOKE CITY LIBRARY VIRGINIA ROOM
pausing in their lunch rooms at midday.
The fall was hard and fast. Those suddenly
appearing clusters of scores of stores surrounded by acres not functional. And with more other-era wonders like
of free parking quickly changed the retail landscape, and creaky wooden floors (a Mast tradition) and the facade
spelled the end for the swanky downtown department restored to its original (the building went up in 1914)
store. The last of them in Roanoke-Heironimus-hung appearance.
on until 1996.
And product lines to keep you inside and perusing
And downtown Roanoke, with due nods to the likes of much the way your grandmother did more than a half
Davidsons and Orvis, of chocolatepaper and LaDeDa, has century back.
not had a retail anchor since.
We at Blue Ridge Country root hard for all the
There's a different kind of anchor about to change all downtowns in our seven-state region. And have drawn
that. Mast General Store, with its original 1883 store in an even sharper focus on that love over recent issues
Valle Crucis, North Carolina still a popular destination, is with the addition of Joan Schroeder's hard-working
coming to Roanoke next year.
column (see page 14 in this issue) on mountain towns.
And to downtown Roanoke. And to the long-vacant
The coming of Mast General is going to be a great
Heironimus building. With the escalators preserved, if day for this one we live in.
6
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Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - Intro
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - Cover1
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - Cover2
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 3
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 4
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 5
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 6
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 7
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 8
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 9
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 10
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 11
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 12
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 13
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 14
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 15
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 16
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 17
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 18
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 19
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 20
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 21
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 22
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 23
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 24
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 25
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 26
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 27
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 28
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 29
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 30
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 31
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 32
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 33
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 34
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 35
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 36
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 37
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 38
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 39
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 40
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 41
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 42
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 43
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 44
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 45
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 46
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 47
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 48
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 49
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 50
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 51
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Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 53
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 54
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 55
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 56
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 57
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 58
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Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 62
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 63
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Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 65
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 66
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 67
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - 68
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG1
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG2
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG3
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG4
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG5
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG6
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG7
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG8
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG9
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG10
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG11
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG12
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG13
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG14
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG15
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG16
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG17
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG18
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG19
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG20
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG21
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG22
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG23
Blue Ridge Country - May/June 2019 - BRPG24
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