Hanover sporting-goods store asks for rezoning to expand
JOE MAHONEY/TIMES-DISPATCH
Green Top, which has been in the same building since it opened in 1947, is requesting that Hanover grant a rezoning request so it can build a larger store.
Green Top Sporting Goods, a landmark store on U.S. 1 that specializes in guns and gear for hunting and fishing, could move into a bigger building at its site just north of Virginia Center Commons.
The property owner, Hopkins Properties LLC, has requested rezoning on 25.5 acres including the tract where the sporting-goods store is located.
David Maloney, deputy director of planning with Hanover County, said the plan is to consolidate parcels at the site for retail use and to keep Green Top there but in a larger structure.
The site is zoned for business, industrial and agricultural uses. Maloney said he does not anticipate any opposition to the rezoning request, which would allow for business use only. It is scheduled for a public hearing before the Hanover Planning Commission on Thursday night.
Bill Prout, an executive at Green Top, said yesterday that he had no comment regarding the sporting company's plans, nor was he willing to comment on the competition that has sprung up nearby with the openings in the past two years of Bass Pro Shops and Gander Mountain Co.
Green Top has been in business since 1947 at the site just north of the Henrico-Hanover county line. It leases the building where it is located.
James W. Theobald, an attorney with Hirschler Fleischer representing the property owner, said no timetable has been set for building at the site. "If you own property, this is a great time to get approvals, so you can be ready with more flexible zoning when the economy recovers," Theobald said.
"That corridor seems to be hot in a cool environment."
The plan is to have some stand-alone structures on the site along with some smaller attached buildings -- a mixture of medium-size retailers and smaller ones, he said.
"We are in discussions with the Green Top folks about building a facility," Theobald said.
Brian Glass, senior vice president of retail for Grubb & Ellis/Harrison & Bates, said Green Top has an antiquated facility, so it would make sense to move into a newer structure.
Still, "it's a very competitive market with four retailers overlapping each other," Glass said
Green Top, Gander Mountain and Bass Pro Shops are located in Hanover within a few miles of one another and Dick's Sporting Goods, in Henrico County at the Creeks at Virginia Center. Glass noted the four sporting-goods stores have different mixes of merchandise.
Glass also noted that the Green Top site is in an area with a lot of retail space.
"There is no overwhelming demand for an additional retail center in the Virginia Center Commons area," Glass said.
Contact Carol Hazard at (804) 775-8023 or
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Reader Reactions
Only got on the wagon when you liberals open up and bring it up. People do voluntary get “shot” with drugs. How many people do you know that are involuntary in using them.
Thank you for the education. I’m 100% serious. Didn’t know that discussing gun shop security precautions and the safety of citizens infringes on others’ rights. Thought it was worthwhile discussing how to keep guns away from criminals. Certainly, pharmacies get robbed. But that doesn’t minimize the need for gun shops to be vigilant in securing firearms. My best to Green Top and all its customers. And my best wishes for a safe year to all.
You guys gotta get off the partisan waggon.
A store that can get broken into and have guns stolen should be held to a higher standard than other places. There’s no right or left about it. I believe in the 2nd amendment and I don’t want to have guns sneaking out on the steets like.
And unlike “Drugs”, wherever you get your stats from, people don’t voluntarily get shot.
Common sense, Why do you not rant and rave about security when a drug store is broken into. These drugs take more lives than guns. I have yet to hear you say one word about all the corner drug stores that are robbed every single week. You can by these drugs legally just like guns in any one of the drug stores. Where is your outrage about them.
Commonsense, you have none, you use the word conservative and member of NRA as if it is an insult or something. I am proud to be both as they stand for many of the values that made this country great. As a liberal you stand for many of the values that have made other countries fall or take away the individual freedoms of its citizen. I would rather be a conservative and free in my thoughts and life than a liveral who depends on the handouts and government programs that they want to force on this country. Good luck on your endevours.
I second dogtown. Why is common sense so quick to criticize Green Top and the way that they secure their guns when thy are closed? Does that mean Bass Pro, Gander Mt., and Dick’s store all of their guns differently? If you secure the guns and the building according to the law and your insurance coverage and probably even do a little better than what the law and insurance require you to do, then how are you at fault? I bet Green Top secures their guns just as good as Bass Pro and Gander Mt. Call me a crazy right wing freako just because I don’t agree with you, thats what you, common sense, liberal nut jobs like to do.
This is great news though. I love Green Top and all of the other stores. If I want clothes for hiking, camping gear, or a blackened tuna steak then I go to Bass Pro or Gander Mt. If I want a great deal on a quality gun from someone who knows everything about that gun that I am buying then I go to Green Top.
You lose common sense go away!
Common Sense,
I assure you that more than 43 guns have disappeared from evidence vaults across the country, someone you know has had something stolen from them, and somewhere in America right now there is are multiple murders being planned as we speak… Point is if everyone in the word was an honest law abiding citizen we would have no need for locking anything up, we would have no need to defend ourselves because nothing would ever go wrong, and we could all sit around an (imitation) campfire and sing “Coom by ya”, but in the real world there are sensible people that realize that the world, states and even towns we live in are not perfect and violent things happen. Greentop was burglarized and 43 guns were stolen, so are you saying that we would all be better off without a gun? Perhaps you should join the Barack cause and push for the elimination of all handguns… I’m sure those 43 from Greentop will be among the first ones turned in (NOT) point is it only makes “Common Sense” to prepare yourself to defend your family in the event that a violent criminal puts your live in imminent danger. But please by all means when you come up with the remainder of all the answers, drop us a line… I’ll be at Greentop waiting…
There is no reason to believe Green Top’s owners have provided any lesser levels of physical security than they competitors Bass Pro Shops and Gander Mountain.
common sense,
It’s simple…bank vaults get broken into, drug stores get broken into. Even ATM machines are broken into or out right stolen altogether. When more than reasonable means are made to secure a property that contains firearms, I think that is all you can ask. They could have had an armed securtiy guard sitting out front and if he was blind sided or whatever, you would complain they didn’t have two security guards. Being a nanny state/country is not the answer.
There is always the chance for something bad to happen, no matter how you are prepared. You cannot keep your kids in a plastic bubble…they will get bumps and bruises, etc. As for cigarettes, I was merely making a comparison…no matter how sarcastic it could be taken, there is much truth to it. I didn’t bring politics into my statement, so I don’t know why you jumped on that…I only made what I felt were “common sense” statements.
As for seatbelts…people still don’t wear them and people still die from not wearing them even though it is a law. Should cars be outfitted with some kind of auto-restraint system that is impossible to override?
Phil,
I think you present your case brilliantly: We simply cannot hold a business responsible for being burglarized. However, banks lock up their money, CVS locks up its drugs. But like most conservatives (I assume you are because you offer no suggestions), you accept life the way it currently is. I say, let’s find a way to make the world safer – on the other hand, you defend the business owner. Until one day, and I pray it never happens, that one of those 43 guns is used against someone you love. We’re talking guns, Phil, not cigarettes. Guns are used in the commission of violent crimes. Do you get it? Or are you afraid to suggest a solution? Were you against seat belts, too?
The store was properly secured. They didn’t leave the door unlocked, they didn’t have an inferior method of securing the store in place. My point is simple. If a thief wants to break in, they will. If the handguns were locked away in a vault, that leaves the rifles and shotguns for the thief to steal as well as them breaking into the vault itself. I’m sorry, Green Top is not a mom and pop shop run out of their home. You act as if these handguns in a display case were beckoning the thieves from a display window from the outside. If a thief wants to break in and steal something, they will.
Are grocery stores, tobacco shops, etc. supposed to be locking away their cigarettes in a vault nightly? They, afterall, kill more people in America than guns which makes them much more deadly. God forbid a thief break in and steal cigarettes that may in turn be sold to your kid or another family member.
Call me their accountant, call me an NRA member who is gun crazy, or whatever, but I think you cannot fault a store for being broken into.
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