CHARLOTTE McINTOSH
Staff Writer
On Thursday, March 6, Anders Bookstore will have a grand opening for their new store in Opelika. This store will be located on Fox Run Parkway in Bette's Crossing Shopping Center near Southern Union Community College.
Ronnie Anders, owner of Anders Bookstore in Auburn, said there were several reasons for their expansion into Opelika.
"First, it was a solid business opportunity for us. Southern Union is a vibrant and growing community college. They're a strong junior college and make good partners," Anders said.
"Second, we found a great location. A developer was putting in a new shopping center with a back door to Southern Union. Also, we'll be next to Winn-Dixie," Anders said.
"We have good people to run (the new store). We have a good and dependable staff here," he said.
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Anders said the Auburn location has been open since 1966. "This is the first expansion of the Anders family (bookstores) in Auburn," he said.
The new location will be considerably smaller than the current Auburn location.
"The new store is about 20 percent the size of the Auburn store. The size corresponds to the number of (Southern Union students) to Auburn students," Anders said.
Cathy Resa, communications coordinator for the Opelika Chamber of Commerce, said the new Anders Bookstore will be a help to Southern Union.
"Anders is a part of a growing need of Southern Union. There are now 4,500 students at Southern Union," Resa said.
The Opelika location is mainly designed for Southern Union students, but Anders said he believes Auburn students will use it as well.
"A lot of people who go to Southern Union are Auburn students. Hopefully, the familiarity (of the name) will help," Anders said.
Resa said, "There are no other college bookstores in Opelika, except for the Southern Union university bookstore.
"There is definitely a need for it in Opelika. There is a lot of cross traffic between communities. Many industrial workers from other communities go to Southern Union for night classes," she said.
Anders said the growth of Southern Union played a large role in the opening of their new store.
"We couldn't have done it without the administration of Southern Union. We're excited about what they've done and we want to be a good part of it," he said.
Anders said the grand opening next Thursday at the new location will include a live remote from radio station Tiger 95, a ribbon-cutting ceremony and give-aways.
Alabama may swallow tax on food
ANNA M. LEE
Staff Writer
Sen. Gerald Dial proposed a bill this month that would eliminate Alabama's 4 percent sales tax on food.
"We need to do something for the people," Dial said.
Dial and others support this change because a tax on food is regressive - it penalizes the poor population more than the wealthy by taxing an essential item.
"You have to have food. It's terribly tough on older people and those on a fixed income to pay this tax," Dial said. "It's just ridiculous that we continue to tax food." Robert Bernstein, head of Auburn's political science department, said, "Fundamentally, it's just an effort at making the burden of paying for state services somewhat more even."
The plan would remove 1 percent of sales tax from food per year for four years.
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George Hall, revenue officer for the city of Auburn, said, "Personally, I think we ought to take tax off food, but the question is, what do we replace it with?" Bernstein said, "It ultimately comes down to who is going to bear the burden, and that's always the hard part. One would have to find some substitute. The state is going to have to compensate by raising taxes on something else." But Dial said the bill is revenue neutral.
"We will take in as much as we give up," he said.
During the four years that the sales tax is being reduced on food, sales tax on other items will be raised a quarter of a percent per year.
Dial said this total state sales tax of 5 percent on general items, along with a tax on computer software that has already been implemented, will compensate for the loss of revenue from not taxing food.
Hall said, "I support it in theory, but it doesn't go far enough. I think the public would be opposed to a sales and use tax increase."
Sales tax in Auburn is currently 7.5 percent - 4 percent is the state tax, 2.5 percent is the Auburn city sales tax and 1 percent is the Lee County sales tax.
Dial said the bill would cause city and county sales tax to be locked against further raises.
This would prevent local governments from penalizing the poor by raising local sales tax in reaction to the state sales tax changes, Dial said.
"Where does that leave the cities?" Hall said. "If it's going to be revenue neutral, why does it have to lock out the cities and counties?"
"I think it could have an impact on us," Hall said.
He said revenue from sales tax makes up 40 to 45 percent of Auburn's general fund.
Dial said he and other supporters of the bill are trying to convince Gov. Fob James and Lt. Gov. Don Siegleman to stand behind the bill.
If the bill passes, changes will go into effect in January 1998, Dial said.
Supper Club remains despite rumors
LlZZ FULLERTON
News Staff
Because of the new construction plans on College Street, rumors of business closings, especially the War Eagle Supper Club, have been circulating around Auburn.
"We are not closing," Lance McCoy, manager of the Supper Club, said.
"Every spring there's a rumor that we are closing. One time it was that we were going to be a Cracker Barrel. The first rumor I remember hearing was in 1985. We were going to be a hotel then," he said.
Employee Frank Snyder, a graduate student in mechanical engineering, said, "We get at least one good rumor every quarter, sometimes two. It breaks the monotony."
The Supper Club's owner, John Brandt, signed a 99 year lease two years ago, McCoy said.
"The Supper Club has been a rock n' roll bar since 1977. The building has been here since the '30s. It used to serve pizza. This was the first place you could get a pizza in Auburn, and, for a while, the only place," McCoy said.
Among the new construction in the vicinity, there are several new hotels.
"We thought that when the hotels were built we'd get a lot of noise complaints," Snyder said.
"We haven't had a single one. Actually, some of the guests come down here."
Michael Miakinoff, assistant manager of the Comfort Inn, said, "We are within 300 feet of the Supper Club. Guests can walk from here. And if they're going there, they'd better walk. We haven't had the first ounce of noise from it, and no complaints, not the first one."
The Supper Club staff heard a rumor the Ford dealership near them was closing because of the new construction. According to Ford's manager, it will remain open.
The property across the street from the Supper Club is being fought over by several hotels, McCoy said, and may be sold soon.
"There are a few new hotels in that area," Douglas Watson, city manager, said.
"There is another plan for a construction company to put up new hotels, new businesses and maybe some new apartment complexes. That area was recently annexed into the city. It had been just rural property. We annexed it two meetings ago. At the last meeting we gave them the zoning they need to build."
Allison More, an employee of the Hampton Inn and a senior in secondary education language arts, said, "There has been no noise from the Supper Club. We're about half a mile away. I like going there because they have good bands and good drinks. It's fun."
For many students, the Supper Club is an Auburn tradition that makes the squelching of the rumor good news.
Allison Adkins, a freshman in liberal arts, said, "I like the atmosphere there. It's different. There aren't a lot of places like that in Auburn to go. A lot of fraternities and sororities have socials there, and there aren't many other places to have them."