Longtime corporate fixture The Orvis Co. sold its Roanoke warehouse two months ago amid a major restructuring in response to the Trump administration’s tariffs.

Part of the Roanoke business community for nearly 40 years, Vermont-based Orvis sold its property at the Roanoke Centre for Industry and Technology Dec. 17 to an affiliate of Coca-Cola Consolidated for $29.7 million, real estate records show.

The soft drink bottling company and the sporting goods retailer plan to share the building, according to statements released by the companies. 

There is evidence that Orvis has downsized.

In connection with the sale, Orvis said it had leased back “space” in its former building. The statement didn’t describe any details such as how much space each company would occupy.

In a brief interview with The Rambler, an Orvis employee said the company hasn’t been using a portion of the warehouse it built in 1987 and expanded over the years to its current 334,000 square feet. It now confines its warehousing and customer service operations to one part of the building, according to the employee, who requested anonymity because the person did not have permission to speak to the media. 

The main parking lot of the sprawling warehouse was empty Monday and Tuesday. 

The new arrangement is among a number of changes made as Orvis faces tariffs implemented last year that created a barrier to procuring goods imported from Asia. Orvis President Simon Perkins explained "tariffs disrupted our business model in ways we haven't faced before,” VTDigger, a Vermont news organization, reported June 18. 

Orvis said it would “be returning to our roots.” 

Officials described a reduction in merchandise offerings, which had previously ranged from sporting goods and sportswear to gifts, luggage and home furnishings, in favor of emphasizing the “core strengths” of fly fishing and “wingshooting,” or hunting birds.

Perkins told media outlets last year he would close about half of the company’s more than 70 stores by early this year.  As details of the store closings were released in October, the downtown Roanoke store was not among the 36 locations that the company said it would eliminate.

Then on Dec. 17, Orvis CFO Adam Sigrist signed paperwork to sell the company’s first major warehouse outside Vermont, in Roanoke, which the company opened in 1987. 

Orvis acknowledged that Coca-Cola Consolidated was moving in but, in a statement to The Roanoke Rambler, explained its plans to stay.

“Roanoke remains a vital part of the Orvis business and Orvis family, and this agreement will not disrupt operations or impact jobs at the facility,” read a statement released by company spokesman Chris Hong. Hong declined to provide further details or comment on any job cuts.

Another employee who requested anonymity said job cuts at the warehouse took effect last year.

Back in the mid-1980s, at the inception of Orvis forming ties with Roanoke, Orvis was primarily a mail-order firm doing business through the shipment of millions of catalogs around the world. It started hunting for a centrally located site for a major warehouse.

Then-Virginia Gov. Gerald Baliles joined efforts to sell the company on Roanoke, which included Baliles hosting Orvis president Leigh Perkins and his wife at the governor's mansion for dinner, The Roanoke Times reported in 1986.

Choosing Roanoke, the company credited its location, business climate, business cost profile and the area’s quality of life, the newspaper reported. 

Helping seal the deal were the Roanoke Valley Development Corp. and Greater Roanoke Valley Development Foundation, which gifted 20 acres to the company, the Times reported. Orvis cast the $4.5-million project as a major step and within a year it opened. It opened its downtown store as well in 1987. 

A Times columnist wrote that "the Orvis store is expected to carry one of the most complete fly fishing selections in the state, and if a customer doesn't find what he needs on the racks there will be quick access to the company's new 148,000-square-foot mail order center in the Roanoke Center for Industry and Technology." 

The facility was expanded over the years, while the Roanoke Orvis shop remains on the ground floor of the city parking garage where it began. 

Rather than shutter that store, Orvis officials have been working with the city of Roanoke on a new lease. The Roanoke City Council plans to hold a public hearing on Feb. 17 on new lease terms for Orvis that will keep the space available for up to five additional years. The city’s compensation will be $1,402 monthly, up from $1,245 under the old lease, plus 1.25 percent of sales, if approved.

Roanoke’s department of economic development declined to comment on any changes going on at Orvis. “It’s a private sector transaction the city isn’t involved in,” said Director of Economic Development Marc Nelson by email.

While Orvis is contracting its footprint, Coca-Cola Consolidated is expanding. That’s the Coke bottling company, which is distinct from the Atlanta-based global enterprise that owns the Coca-Cola brand.

Coca-Cola Consolidated said in a statement that it will shift operations from nearby Integrity Drive to the recently purchased facility, which is more than two and a half times as large. Warehousing, distribution, equipment services and a fleet shop for its trucking subsidiary will be housed under one roof. 

“Coca-Cola Consolidated is excited about its growth in Roanoke, Va.,” read a statement from the Charlotte-based organization.

Total area employment will reach 500 people, a company statement said, and bottling of beverages will continue at a plant in downtown Roanoke.