When Jim and Julie Miller were informed by the Ohio Department of Transportation last spring that they had 90 days to move their business to accommodate a street widening, they never thought the forced relocation would spark a growth stage for the 78-year-old business.
Albright Lighting opened in the North Hill area of Akron in 1922. Jim Miller’s parents, who bought the business in the ’60s, moved the store to Montrose in 1976, where it stood until six months ago as Montrose’s oldest retail store.
Jim says sales were always steady, largely due to the fact that he and Julie hand-picked their lighting inventory so as not to compete with the more generic offerings of Home Depot and Lowe’s.
The Millers leased the Montrose space from Jim’s parents, who retired to Florida several years ago. While the Ghent Road building was slightly off the beaten path of other retail establishments, “It worked out — for a while,” says Julie.
Then, just over a year and a half ago, things turned upside down.
“They came in and said, ‘We have the right to evict you in 90 days,'” Julie recalls of her first meeting with state officials.
As it turned out, they were given more notice than that, but poor communication between the Millers and ODOT, coupled with an ever-changing deadline, made it very difficult for the couple to plan their relocation.
“They kept moving the date, which made it hard for us to find a new space,” Julie says.
Then, after they decided to move to Fairlawn, they discovered the city was trying to reduce its overall retail space. To make matters worse, the state’s appraisal of the Montrose building was “miles apart” from the appraisal Jim’s parents commissioned. His parents are still in a legal battle with the state over the discrepancy.
Early this year, the Millers were finally given a firm deadline of June 1, 2000. They were told that if they missed the deadline, they were at risk of losing their reimbursement for moving expenses, they say.
They had just two months to find a comparable space — close enough so they wouldn’t lose their customer base — and to move quickly enough so they wouldn’t have to shut the business down for any noticeable period.
It was around that time that the Millers received a call from Brad Cvammen, director of retail properties for Albrecht Inc., which manages and owns retail and industrial properties in the area.
“We support local businesses, especially those that have been serving the area as long as Albright’s,” Cvammen says. “When I learned about Jim’s plight in Montrose, I immediately contacted him regarding Westgate Plaza, which we had recently renovated.”
The highly visible space on West Market Street in Fairlawn turned out to be the perfect prescription. The Milers were able to move their business over Memorial Day weekend, closing for just 48 hours.
Albright Lighting (now Albright’s Accessories and Light) is the anchor tenant of Westgate Plaza, and the Millers are experiencing something they had never before considered as a possibility: foot traffic. While the Montrose store was purely a destination location, the new Fairlawn store attracts shoppers strolling from the neighboring Arabica, Bruegger’s and other retail shops.
The Millers have used the larger, 6,800-square-foot store to expand their offerings, adding about 50 percent more inventory. The store now carries a wide selection of innovative gifts and accessories, and a small eclectic furniture selection.
“The furniture makes the lighting look better, and the lighting makes the furniture look better,” says Jim.
In addition, the store’s 10-foot ceilings have allowed the Millers to showcase chandeliers and other ceiling lighting that they were unable to display at their previous location.
“We turned it into an opportunity to showcase new products,” Jim says. “We wanted to raise the bar, to carry a better grade of merchandise to differentiate ourselves. We’re not Pier 1, we’re not Lowe’s.”
So far, the relocation and expansion are paying off. Sales have been steadily climbing, each month better than the last, Jim says. The Millers also tripled their advertising budget, to make sure their loyal customer base would follow them to the new store.
Julie admits they never would have moved if they had not been forced out, but says the ordeal, so far, has been a blessing in disguise.
“We’re thrilled with this space,” says Jim. “For most people, it’s a better location than Montrose. We are extremely happy here.
“We’re finding that if you build it, they will come. Akron is not as conservative as one might think.” How to reach: Albright’s Accessories and Light, (330) 836-1123
Connie Swenson ([email protected]) is editor of SBN.
