An online retailer of microscopes and related scientificequipment who plans to expand his business this year has moved toRoanoke from Burnt Chimney with the goal of recruiting futureemployees from Virginia Tech and other colleges in the region.
Charles Crookenden, president of The Microscope Store, said the 10-employee business moved over the weekend and opened Monday at newquarters on McDowell Avenue Northeast.
The Internet retailer, which operates as Microscope.com, sells ahouse brand of microscopes manufactured in China called Omano andis an authorized reseller of Motic, a Chinese brand, and Japanese-made Meiji Techno, along with several other brands.
Crookenden said his company sells equipment to industry,education, health care and many other customer segments, includingparents shopping for their curious offspring. "Literally, we servefrom NASA to nursery schools," he said.
The Microscope Store's sales increased 30 percent in 2010, andthe company had strong growth in holiday sales in particular,Crookenden said. He declined to reveal revenue figures for theprivately held business.
The company was located in leased space in Burnt Chimney as amatter of expediency, Crookenden said, after he bought the business14 years ago from the original owner, who operated it out of a homenear Rocky Mount.
Today, sales are divided 50-50 between telephone calls and theInternet. Crookenden said his team takes customer service"extremely seriously" and the approach has earned "Gold Award"recognition from TopTenReviews, an online consumer technologyreview site, for two years in a row.
This year's challenge, aside from moving, will be the debut inMarch of a new e-commerce system. "You literally will be able tobuild your own microscope," Crookenden said, which will haveparticular appeal to industrial customers.
He hopes the revamped site gives a "material bump" in thecompany's growth, which would mean hiring more employees whiledrawing from a broader pool of candidates from Roanoke toBlacksburg.
On the Net: microscope.com
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