Athletics background helps Thomas in retail world

For Nancy Thomas, tackling the rough-and-tumble world of retail is much easier after growing up in a house full of hockey-playing brothers on New York's Long Island.

Thomas, 51, is president and CEO of the local Retail Merchants Association. It's her job to be an ally for Richmond-area retailers in their fight to survive and thrive.

As a former retailer, Thomas brings decades of experience, both from the corporate side and as a business owner, to her new job.

What sets her apart, according to friends and colleagues, is her work ethic and competitiveness.

"She has determination and perseverance, and she's a strategic thinker who puts her head down and gets the job done," said Robert S. Ukrop, chairman, president and CEO of Ukrop's Super Markets Inc. and a past chairman of the Retail Merchants Association.

Thomas laughs at being called competitive but doesn't shy away from the description.

"It comes from growing up in a family of seven," she said.

Thomas was raised in Bellmore, N.Y., on Long Island, the third of seven children, all of them athletes and five of them boys.

Growing up in that environment, she said, she learned how to compete and to be tough.

All her brothers played hockey and lacrosse.

One year, the brothers were short a player and she was told to trade in her figure skates for hockey skates.

"So that's what I did," she said.

But coming from a large family also instilled her with a work ethic she says has served her well.

"We all worked from a young age," Thomas said. "We learned that we had to work hard, to work diligently and to do the right thing."

The drive to work hard and to do the right thing didn't always match up.

At 14, Thomas altered her birth certificate to land a summer job on Jones Beach on Long Island.

"My mother knew I did it, but I just wanted the job that badly," she said.

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The competitiveness and hard work have served her well in her role as leader of the Retail Merchants Association.

Thomas took the helm of the retail group at one of the most difficult economic times for retailers in decades.

She was named interim director a year ago this month and given the permanent assignment in January. Thomas succeeded William H. Baxter, who retired after 15 years.

Thomas had previously served as chairwoman of the organization from 2005 through 2007.

Retail Merchants has about 900 members.

Since she took over, the country has seen consumer confidence wane and sales at retail stores plummet.

The downturn hit Richmond's retail community particularly hard, with some local stalwarts closing their doors for good, including Circuit City Stores Inc., S&K Famous Brands and Carytown's Lane Sanson Home Eclectique shop.

Thomas has spent the past year working to provide training for retailers and advice to help them manage during the difficult time.

The group's monthly First Friday Forums have largely focused on topics that help retailers get through the economic malaise.

She also started a mentoring group and kicked off a shop-local marketing campaign called Think. Shop. Buy. Local.

"We used to be a starched-white-shirt group, but there is so much more energy now," said Kenneth Wayland, president of Free Agents Marketing in Henrico County and board member of the association. "Nancy Thomas is one of the few people who will champion change."

Thomas and Wayland got to know each other working together on the Retail Merchants board and have become friends.

"She has sincerity, trust and passion," he said. "When I'm sitting across a table talking to Nancy, I know she's going to be candid - to tell me what she thinks."

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Thomas came to Richmond in 1976 to attend Virginia Commonwealth University on a volleyball scholarship.

"My first memory of the city is getting off of a bus on Broad Street with all my stuff and looking for a cab," she says. "I remember being so surprised that there weren't any and that I had to call one."

She had originally planned to return home after graduating in 1981, but the economy was tough at the time and she ended up working for a temp agency.

The agency placed her with This End Up, the Richmond-based retailer that pioneered crate-style furniture.

The temporary assignment turned into a 12-year gig, during which she met her husband, Jeff, and launched her career in retail.

"I did everything with This End Up, from answering the phones to training to opening new stores," she said of her tenure.

When she joined the chain, This End Up had about 15 stores. It operated about 250 stores when she left in 1993 to work at Arcade on the Grove in Richmond's West End with Elizabeth Robertson "Libby" Brown, one of the founders of This End Up. She bought the shop in 1995.

Moving from a large chain to the single store was a big change for Thomas.

"You go back to doing everything yourself again," she said.

After shutting the Arcade on the Grove shop in early 2006, Thomas started Turn Key Interiors with Betsy Gates Moore, who also had worked at This End Up.

She gave up her ownership stake when she took the job as president of the retail group.

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While Thomas' days as an athlete are behind her, the lessons she learned remain, Wayland said.

"To me, she's more of a coach than a president and CEO," he said. "You can see it at board meetings, where everyone is pumped up and all the seats are taken. You can see it when she mentors members."

For Thomas, the same energy that drove her on the volleyball court is still driving her.

She gets to work about 7 a.m. and "leaves with the cleaning crew." Each day plays out differently, though, with a number of unexpected things popping up.

"What I love about this job is that I always have a lot of balls in the air and have to manage that," she said.

George Peyton, vice president of government relations for the retail group, said Thomas is involved in most aspects of what is happening in the retail industry but trusts her staff enough to let them do their jobs. Peyton has been with the organization for 20 years.

"If there is one word that sums her up, it's sincerity," he said. "She's always looking out for the best interest of members and staff."

For Thomas, though, her family is the priority.

Both of her teenage children have followed in her athletic footsteps, and she rarely misses a game.

"In this position, you have to be very flexible, and I do have a balance. That something I learned at This End Up," she said.

To step away from work, Thomas avoids e-mail over the weekend when she can and dedicates time to her church, St. Bridget Catholic Church.

"You can either make work your life, or you can decide to have a life," she said.

But Thomas says that when the time comes, she gives everything she has to her job, because it's just a part of who she is.

"If you need to come in early and stay late, you just do it," she said. "It's your job."

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