Biz Buzz: Pleasants Hardware opens Patterson store

In these tough times, most companies are slowing their growth as they wait for sales to pick up.

But one Richmond-based retailer is among the handful that is actually expanding.

Pleasants Hardware, which traces its roots in the Richmond area back to 1915, has opened its eighth store.

"We saw this as a good time and a good opportunity for us," said James T. Hatcher III, Pleasants' president, adding that the economic downturn actually helped in this case.

Because of the slowdown, he was able to negotiate better lease and inventory terms, both of which would have cost more in better times.

"Economically, it worked for us to do it now," he said.

The new store, which opened about two weeks ago, is at 5815 Patterson Ave., just west of Libbie Avenue.

The 9,000-square-foot store is in the building once occupied by Westhampton Marketplace. Before that, the building housed the Westhampton Super Market for 30 years.

The Pleasants store employs about 15 people. About half the staff came from other stores, saving new-hire expenses.

Hatcher said he'd been looking for a store in the area for some time. The favorable terms and timing made sense to open now and will give Pleasants a leg up when the economy rebounds.

"We're in an industry that is going to bounce back," he said. "We just don't know when."

Besides the seven stores Pleasants now operates in the Richmond area, the chain has a location in Harrisonburg.

RSVP closes

RSVP in Midlothian closed last week.

The shop that specialized in selling invitations and announcements operated in the Alverser Plaza shopping center on Alverser Drive near Huguenot Road in Chesterfield County.

Local bookstores

Richmond-area independent bookstores are joining forces starting Wednesday for the sixth annual Month of Independents.

The event is designed to attract business to smaller bookstores in the area.

Customers who shop at one of the 16 participating bookstores get a 20 percent discount on used books if they produce a receipt from another one of the stores showing that they have spent at least $10 in July.

"This sale is designed for us to send our customers to our competitors, an idea that seems to run counter to a capitalist business model," said Ward Tefft, owner of Chop Suey Books in Carytown.

"On the contrary, we see this incentive to shop other businesses as something that will support Chop Suey Books and the Richmond reading community in the long run."

For a full list of participating bookstores, go to www. TimesDispatch.com.

Circuit City stores?

Systemax Inc., the company that bought Circuit City's name, trademark and intellectual property at a bankruptcy auction last month, could be considering opening stores using the defunct chain's name.

Gilbert Fiorentino, Systemax's CEO of its technology products group, said the company is looking to expand its store footprint, according to news reports from a presentation he made at a Consumer Electronics Association show event this month.

Fiorentino and other company officials did not return phone calls for comment.

The company now owns 24 CompUSA stores in the U.S.

The company acquired the brand, trademarks and e-commerce business of CompUSA in January 2008 through bankruptcy proceedings.

However, Fiorentino wouldn't say whether any of the stores would take on the Circuit City moniker. Systemax did not buy any of the store locations.

In other Circuit City news, area landlords continue trying to lure electronics and appliance retailer hhgregg to the area.

The chain has said it plans to increase its store base now that Circuit City is gone.

Six vacant Circuit City stores in the Richmond area could be attractive to the Indianapolis-based retailer, real estate experts say.

The push is on to bring hhgregg here in the next year or so, the sources say.

The former Circuit City location near Short Pump Town Center in western Henrico County could be of particular interest to hhgregg, according to several sources.

Contact Louis Llovio at (804) 649-6348 or .