Peebles coming to Ambriar

By Scott Marshall

Published: November 12, 2008

The construction at the Ambriar Plaza shopping center is for a new store.

Clothing retailer Peebles plans to open a 12,500-square-foot store next spring at Ambriar and will be the first such department store there since the Wailes store closed in 2002.

“I think Amherst is real fortunate to have them, because it is a quality store of its type,” said shopping center owner Paul Wailes III, who opened Ambriar in 1973 and has pursued the retailer as a client since 1975.

The store façade will be between the Schewel’s furniture store and the UVa Dialysis unit.

The retailer focuses on providing moderately priced, brand-name and private-label apparel, accessories, cosmetics and footwear in small towns.

Town officials did not comment on the development, pending a formal announcement, but a company official confirmed the plan last week and said more details were forthcoming. The grand opening tentatively is expected to be in March or April.

The retailer is expected to energize the shopping center, at which a new restaurant, El Mariachi, opened in July in the same building that housed the former Pappy’s Restaurant.

The town also plans to extend sidewalks beside South Main Street to the shopping center, which will link it with nearby Amherst County High School.

Officials have long incorporated the shopping center into work on the town comprehensive plan, concluding that the area inevitably will grow because of the completion of the Madison Heights bypass and because large tracts of land along South Main Street remain undeveloped.

After initiating studies in 2006, officials concluded that South Main Street, as it now stands, could not accommodate full development in the Ambriar area, which likely will include retail businesses, restaurants and hotels or motels.

Traffic lights or circles likely will be needed in the area as the volume of motorists increases.

Peebles is expected to draw more people to the shopping center.

Peebles has three other central Virginia stores in Appomattox, Bedford and Altavista, as well as in Lexington and Staunton, among 34 stores statewide. But eight more stores are opening this week, according to Houston-based Stage Stores Inc., which has a headquarters in South Hill.

Stage Stores operates more than 700 stores under the Peebles, Bealls, Palais Royal and Stage names in 38 states in New England, the Mid-Atlantic, Southeastern, and Midwestern regions.

Renovations at Ambriar for Peebles have been under way for several weeks.