Old Agnew Seed Lives Again as Walkabout

Kirk and Tina Miller this morning, finishing the move^

Tina and Kirk Miller with Auctioneer Ken Farmer just after the sale in March^

Tina and Kirk Miller, owners of Walkabout Outfitters on Roanoke City Market, are spending today moving their store into the former Agnew Seed a few doors down. The new store opens tomorrow. The difference for the Millers is that they are now owners instead of rentors, having purchased Agnew in March.

Agnew had been the sole occupant of the building for nearly 100 years, but a death in the family led to its sale and the Millers, who own three other stores--two in Lexington and a kitchen shop a couple of doors away on City Market--bought it at auction.

Kirk Miller says the most significant obstacle in the renovation process was the unanticipated levels of dust, generated by a seed store. "We're going from agricultural to retail clothing," he says, "and the one thing we can't tolerate in clothes is dust." The renovations in the store have primarily amounted to removing, rather than adding. The banks of shelving along both walls are gone and everything has been painted and refinished, including a lovely hammered tin ceiling.