When I attended college at Virginia Tech in the mid-'90s, I got a good education, made a lot of friends, and had a generally good time. Still for all the positive aspects that Blacksburg had, its shopping options were severely limited.
There were a handful of nice local shops that I frequented, a small mall in nearby Chrisitansburg, and a Wal-Mart. For all we had, it was still not relevant to typical college students, most of which came from less rural areas of the country whre there were trendy, affordable national retailers on every corner. Not so in the New River Valley. Merchandise in local stores was either quite upscale or bare-bones, with almost no in-between.
After the Hokies started winning bowl games, the overall retail landsacpe improved in Montgomery County, but the actual number of retailers began to drop in Blacksburg proper, replaced by more bars and reataurants.
I'm not against bars or reataurants, but sometimes you want a good pair of sneakers to wear to the bar, too.
The editorial writer at the Collegiate Times brings the issue up-to-date:
Since September, the Blacksburg Town Council and the Montgomery County Board of Supervisors have been holding multiple sessions, mainly closed to the public, to discuss the future of the former Blacksburg Middle School on North Main Street. To date, a Virginia Beach-based consulting and development firm, Branwick Associates, has proposed to build a $160 million shopping mall on the property. Other alternatives include a luxury housing development or an overflow property for the Virginia Tech YMCA as a place to have its thrift store and other programs.
While there are certain concerns to take into consideration, including traffic, surrounding neighborhood infringement, the Sigma Phi Epsilon house and various other nearby buildings, the development of commercial property on the outskirts of downtown Blacksburg can only bring good things to our community.
Although Tech students can’t decide on what should be developed, the town would be wise to understand that the development of this property into a commercial area would be a potential goldmine, benefiting specifically from student spending redirected into town and away from Christiansburg.
While the students enjoy the local retailers and will continue to frequent them with or without improved commercial development, there is a very visible lack of easily accessible mainstream retailers in the Blacksburg area. Currently, consumers must travel to Christiansburg to find something as simple as socks or a pair of men’s jeans. Attracting merchandisers such as GAP, J. Crew or any of a number of popular merchants would provide a valuable commercial service to the city. It is a concept understood by Council Member Al Leighton, who recognizes that we do not have a department store in town, and we sorely need one.
Well said. Read the full commentary
UPDATE: Even longtime Blacksburg Mayor Roger Hedgepeth agrees with me.
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