Though we hear constant gossip that this Lowe’s on Route 29 is the busiest in the country, company officials won’t confirm or deny the rumor.
From time to time here at the C-VILLE Development desk, we hear the purrings of rumors that we just hope will prove true. One of our favorites goes like this: The Lowe’s store on Route 29N is the largest in the country.
Sounds logical, right? After all, Charlottesville has been officially declared The Greatest Place to Live on God’s Green Earth and we have, what, 40,000 more houses in the pipeline? People have to get their home-improvement supplies somewhere, don’t they?
So we picked up the Development phone and put in a call to Somebody Official at the Lowe’s Headquarters. Actually, her name is Chris Ahearn, and she confirmed a small part of the story: “That rumor circulates from time to time,” she said. “People also say that about a couple of our other places—one in Florida and one in the Midwest.” Harumph! The Midwest, indeed.
Not content to burst our balloon once, Ahearn went on to say that Charlottesville’s Lowe’s is not even particularly outstanding when it comes to size—you know, square footage. At 114,000 square feet, with a 30,000 square foot garden center, it is considered “standard” for most Lowe’s stores nationwide.
Whatever! We know there must be something extra-special about our Lowe’s. After all, how do you explain the fact that it has no major competitor? Where’s the Home Depot? we wonder. Will one come to town to anchor a brand new big-box shopping center? No one could give us an answer to that question when we made another call—this time over to Home Depot Corporate Headquarters. Seems that in order to keep the competitive edge, Home Depot will only announce plans for a new store after they’ve inked the deal.
Well, so much for rumors.—Cathy Harding, with additional reporting by Burke Speaker
