The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Money

June 11, 2009

Ollie’s Plaza?

Mid-Atlantic retailer to open Beckley store

Jessica Farrish

Value City’s loss is Ollie’s gain, according to Jerry Altland, vice president of real estate for Ollie’s Bargain Outlet.

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet is the mid-Atlantic region’s largest retailer of closeout, surplus and salvage merchandise, according to the store Web site, www.olliesbargainoutlet.com.

Ollie’s will begin in mid-July to move into the Beckley space left vacant by Value City earlier this year.

“We’re excited at being in Beckley,” Altland said Thursday. “It’s a great city in West Virginia.

“There’s a lot of retail there, but it draws out real well. It’s a vibrant city.”

Altland said he’d wanted to move an Ollie’s to Beckley for about three years but could not find appropriate retail space.

When Value City announced its closure in October 2008, Altland said, the owners of the old Value City building contacted him at Ollie’s corporate headquarters in Harrisburg, Pa., to work out a lease.

“Our gain is Value City’s loss,” Altland said. “With Value City going out, it created some second-generation space.

“That’s what we do all the time: We look for second-generation retail space.”

Altland said Ollie’s will be leasing 36,500 square feet of the old Value City building.

The store is set to open at the end of August and will employ 50 to 65 people, Altland said.

Value City owner Kristin Mack cited a sagging economy and a corporate re-focus on core stores as reasons to close the Beckley Value City, which was located in the Value City Center shopping plaza on Robert C. Byrd Drive.

Schottenstein Stores Corp. owns the old Value City building.

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Altland said Ollie’s deals primarily in carpet, books, housewares, hardware and domestic goods.

“Our book department is probably the best close-out book department in the East,” he said. “We will have a heck of a book department with kids’ books, inspirationals, novels, dummy guides ... anything you can think of.”

Founded by Mark Butler, Mort Bernstein, Oliver “Ollie” Rosenberg and Harry Coverman in Mechanicsburg, Pa., on July 29, 1982, Ollie’s philosophy is “Good Stuff Cheap.”

According to the Web site, much of Ollie’s merchandise comes direct from higher-end domestic and international manufacturers.

The store also purchases salvage merchandise and liquidates major retail centers.

The name-brand and higher-end products are then discounted and sold to consumers.

Ollie’s Bargain Outlet operates 78 stores in eight states, including one in Parkersburg, according to the Web site.

Maryland, Delaware, Ohio, Virginia, New York and North Carolina also host Ollie’s stores.

— E-mail:

jfarrish@register-herald.com

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