A discount retailer gave one of its Southside stores a facelift last week, converting the Maxway at Southside Plaza on Hull Street Road into a Roses Express. Roses is a sister brand to Maxway, and both are owned by Variety Wholesalers.

“We had been visiting the store last year, and it was just outdated and needed a remodeling,” said Phil Pope, senior vice president for Variety Wholesalers. “When we remodel the Maxway stores now, we go ahead and convert them to our new footprint for midsize stores, which is Roses Express.”

The newly christened Roses Express remained open throughout the remodel and officially launched under its new name on July 31. Roses Express takes about 37,000 square feet at Southside Plaza, but only about half of that is retail space. The rest is used for storage, Pope said.

The Southside store is one of five Variety Wholesalers brand stores currently in the Richmond area as the company looks to expand the brand.

Last year the discount department store opened a 53,000-square-foot location on Mechanicsville Turnpike and a 27,000-square-foot store on Beulah Road in Chesterfield. There’s a third Roses in Ashland.

Variety Wholesalers also has a Maxway store at the Fairfield Commons Mall in the East End. That mall is slated for demolition, however, and will be replaced by an open-air, Walmart-anchored shopping center. Pope said Variety Wholesalers has not yet determined if it will take space in that revamped shopping center.