AUGUSTA COUNTY, Virginia (WVIR) – New Staunton mall owners gave businesses a month to leave the house. That month Christmas Eve is over, but now the owners tell NBC29 they have until the end of the year.
Business owners at the Staunton Mall are trying to figure out the next steps and are in various stages of the process.
“We don’t sweat like we used to, because we believe we have more time than originally stated because of the law, not because the owners expect us to do it,” Know Knew Books co-owner Burruss said.
They have found a new home for their business. This week they signed a lease in the former Goodwill location, located on the street. “It’s a close move and I think we can do it and be in good shape,” Burruss said.
But the forced movement hurt his business according to Burruss. “We started breaking things up a week and a half ago, two weeks ago, thus taking the salable merchandise off the shelves.”
The Military Surplus store, always ready Outlet, was preparing to open two new storefronts to raise money for Dolly Parton’s imagination library to get books for children in the area. “It was eight months of work and expenses,” owner Terry Leake said. Now, he is preparing it for Goodwill. “At least there will still be some benefit to the community,” Leake said.
But Leake and Burrus seem more concerned about their neighbors, like Hot Wok. “Hot Wok down there spent $ 100,000 and opened,” Leake said.
“It seems to me that what they did to Hot Wok was criminal,” Burruss said.
After 21 years in the dining area, the Chinese restaurant has just moved to a new space. “We spent about five months renovating this place,” said Stanley Xie, whose family owns the restaurant. Xie says they received the letter five probably five days after the opening. “It really sucks to have to leave in such a short time.
Xie says they try to stay in the mall as long as possible, but they too are looking for a new home. “Hopefully we can land a place somewhere in Staunton because we’ve been in the community so long,” he said.
Business owners say the support from the community has been amazing as people go looking for how they can help.
The new owners of the Staunton Mall, Staunton EM 2 LLC, plan to demolish the main building, except Belk, and redevelop the area.
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