Reed & Cross ready for `transformation'.

Byline: Joe Mosley The Register-Guard

Of all the rumors churning through the mill, the one Jeff Robinson is most interested in quashing is this one: that his family business is preparing to close or sell out.

The owners of the eclectic Reed & Cross store - a landmark, high-end retailer for 55 years - will largely demolish their building on Oakway Road next year and replace it with an updated structure that will feature a not-yet-finalized mix of businesses, Robinson said Wednesday.

But will the new mix include Reed & Cross? "Oh, yes," said Robinson, whose family has run the store and co-owned it with silent partner Gene Gustafson since 1982. He declined to say what kind of or how large a presence Reed & Cross will have in the updated building.

"It's been interesting to hear all the different possibilities here," Robinson said, referring to the scuttlebutt surrounding the store's plans.

"But it's premature yet to even identify who might be involved with this transformation," he said, referring to possible tenants of the building.

Current tenants Of Grape & Grain and Bello Day Spa & Salon both will be moving on, according to their owners. Robinson wouldn't say how much of the new building may be available for lease to other retailers.

Tentative plans submitted to Eugene's Department of Planning and Development show a new building with a Reed & Cross sign on its south side, but do not indicate how much of the building may be occupied by the store.

"We're hoping to remodel much of this building, and it's in sore need of that," said Robinson, the store's general manager.

"It's no secret that we need to go through a transformation. So we're excited about updating this property. It's just looking dated. It's tired, and we need to add some pizazz to it."

An application for an "adjustment review" was filed with the city's planning staff on July 31, seeking authority to rebuild with a larger-than-standard setback between the building's north side and Eastwood Lane.

"It appears they are proposing an additional double row of parking spaces," said city land use analyst Kristie Brown, who will make a decision on the application in about a month and a half.

The application includes tentative plans for demolition of about three-quarters of the current, 23,578-square-foot building. It would be replaced by an addition of 16,067 square feet, resulting in an overall building footprint slightly smaller than the existing one.

Reed & Cross was founded in 1952 by Reed Vollstedt as a small garden center, and the business took on its full name when Ed Cross merged his landscaping interests into the company eight years later. The business gradually expanded its gifts, clothing and housewares, and added a florist shop.

Vollstedt eventually bought out Cross, then sold the business in 1979 to an Oklahoma businessman who went bankrupt during the nationwide recession of the early 1980s.

That's when Ralph Robinson - Jeff's father, and still an active participant in the operation - bought the store and began sharpening its focus on high-end gifts, flowers, home accent pieces and clothing.

"Reed & Cross has been a great neighbor all these years," said Babe Edman, whose family has owned the Edman Fine Furniture store next door since 1963.

"They've just attracted the right type of customer for us," he said. "We're a high-end furniture store, and they've attracted that type of woman."

Edman said he is not aware of specific plans for Reed & Cross, but is keenly aware of the redevelopment pressures on all businesses in the vicinity of red-hot Oakway Center - just across Oakway Road.

"I know a few people through business clubs, etc., who have just broached the subject - `Do you know what that property's worth?' ' Edman said of his own building. "All I can tell you is it's perfect for our business."

Jeff Robinson said his family realizes that dramatic upgrades at Oakway Center over the past several years have raised the bar for retail operations in the area. Their hope is to rework their building in 2008, remaining open throughout construction, and be in operation with new tenants in place by 2009, he said.

"The synergies we have here with our tenant mix need to be comparable in quality and excitement to what's across the street (at Oakway Center)," Robinson said.

One tenant, J.B. van Hecke, who owns Of Grape & Grain with his wife, Stephenie, said his lease expired three years ago and he has continued to rent space inside Reed & Cross on a month-to-month basis while the Robinsons formed a plan for their store's future.

The cafe and wine shop - which has steadily de-emphasized its wine offerings - will relocate next year.

The business will expand its lunch offerings to include breakfast and dinner selections, and its owners are considering a name change to accompany the move.

"This holiday season will be our last holiday season here," van Hecke said. "We are moving elsewhere, but I don't have a signed lease yet so I'm hesitant to say where."

Kenda Mason, one of the owners at Bello Day Spa & Salon, said her lease will expire in March and the business is expected to move during February to a new storefront at Crescent Village, on Crescent Avenue east of Coburg Road.

"We wanted to kind of grow and be visible from the street," Mason said.

"We're kind of tucked away here (on the north side of Reed & Cross). We're very excited about the Crescent Village area."