In recent months, the region's largest shopping mall has undergone a substantial amount of churn, even by the change-is-good standards of the retail business.
The owners of the Whitehall Township mall are, of course, building a 110,000-square-foot addition in the mall's parking lot that will include such upscale stores as Williams-Sonoma and Coldwater Creek.
But the action inside the existing 1-million-square-foot building is just as interesting as what's going on outside. Mall officials say a large crop of leases is expiring at about the same time. As a result, stores ranging from women's clothier Christopher & Banks to Build-A-Bear Workshop are simultaneously arriving, leaving, renovating or swapping places.
''It's normal for tenants to want to renovate a space to get a fresh look,'' mall Marketing Manager Paula Hannam said, citing The Limited and Bath and Body Works as other tenants that have redone their stores. ''That's normal when a lease expires or is renewed.''
Independent retail experts believe the mall's makeover goes beyond typical lease-related turnover. They suggest mall officials have weeded out stores that underperformed or did not fit the image they wanted.
''This is not normal,'' said James Ogden, a Valley resident and professor of marketing at Kutztown University. ''There's way too many stores leaving and coming. It's a strategy they're using to compete.''
Last Updated: May 20, 2007
A makeover at the mall
Stores are coming and going at the Lehigh Valley Mall, where an expansion also is being built.
By Kurt Blumenau Of The Morning Call
McDonald's is gone. So are Pawsenclaws & Co., Eastern Mountain Sports and the Body Shop. Starbucks is coming, the Gap is renovating and PacSun just moved in where CVS used to be.
Confusing? That's life inside the Lehigh Valley Mall. In recent months, the region's largest shopping mall has undergone a substantial amount of churn, even by the change-is-good standards of the retail business.
Confusing? That's life inside the Lehigh Valley Mall. In recent months, the region's largest shopping mall has undergone a substantial amount of churn, even by the change-is-good standards of the retail business.
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But the action inside the existing 1-million-square-foot building is just as interesting as what's going on outside. Mall officials say a large crop of leases is expiring at about the same time. As a result, stores ranging from women's clothier Christopher & Banks to Build-A-Bear Workshop are simultaneously arriving, leaving, renovating or swapping places.
''It's normal for tenants to want to renovate a space to get a fresh look,'' mall Marketing Manager Paula Hannam said, citing The Limited and Bath and Body Works as other tenants that have redone their stores. ''That's normal when a lease expires or is renewed.''
Independent retail experts believe the mall's makeover goes beyond typical lease-related turnover. They suggest mall officials have weeded out stores that underperformed or did not fit the image they wanted.
''This is not normal,'' said James Ogden, a Valley resident and professor of marketing at Kutztown University. ''There's way too many stores leaving and coming. It's a strategy they're using to compete.''
Hannam deferred comment on leasing decisions, saying the mall's image and tenant mix are shaped on a corporate level. Les Morris, a spokesman for mall co-owner Simon Property Group, declined to comment on rent and leasing decisions, calling them ''proprietary landlord-tenant issues.''
To add to the upheaval, the $40 million upscale expansion project includes some tweaks to the interior of the mall. Co-owners Simon and Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust are replacing escalators and interior lights and upgrading entrances and restrooms.
It's too early to know what visitors will think of the revised mall. Some stores, like Gap, are still renovating, while others have not yet arrived.
Shoppers interviewed last week seem to rate the changes on a store-by-store basis: Some look forward to new shops, while others miss those that have gone. Erica Ackerman of Whitehall Township will not miss McDonald's, but wishes CVS had stayed.
''We do not have a lot of drugstores in Whitehall,'' she said.
Still, by the time the changes play themselves out, the mall will have a refreshed look and a substantially changed store base. And that's important in retail, even if shoppers don't immediately warm to every new store.
''I think it will be positive in the long run,'' said Denise Ogden, a retail expert and assistant professor of business administration at Penn State Lehigh Valley. Denise and James Ogden are married. ''In the short term, there's going to be some upset customers, of course.''
The additions and subtractions come at a time of larger change on the Valley's retail scene.
Last fall, the Promenade Shops at Saucon Valley mall opened in Upper Saucon Township as the region's first ''lifestyle center.'' A lifestyle center is an open-air mall with extensive landscaping and higher-end stores. The Promenade Shops' store list includes the Fresh Market, Brooks Brothers and L.L. Bean's first Pennsylvania store.
Other shopping centers that will aim, at least in part, at well-heeled shoppers are also planned at the Sands BethWorks casino in Bethlehem, and at The Summit Lehigh Valley in Bethlehem Township.
The owners of Lehigh Valley Mall are ''trying to change the complexion … of the mall,'' said Steve Cihylik, a veteran local retail broker with The Frederick Group, who does not handle leasing at the mall. ''They're competing with other entities that are getting a lot of press.''
The new addition at Lehigh Valley Mall is a clear attempt to fight back in the upscale shopping race. The interior store changes seem less calculated to draw those shoppers, though. Of the new names coming inside the mall, only Starbucks, which has a store at the Promenade Shops, has a distinctly upscale image.
A quick rundown of some of the mall's recent changes:
- Summertime clothing chain PacSun has settled where CVS used to be, on the first level. PacSun has bounced around to several mall stores, including those formerly occupied by Bebe and Petite Sophisticate.
- Meanwhile, the former Petite Sophisticate space that PacSun just left is being turned into a new store for current mall tenant Wet Seal.
- A renovated, expanded Gap should open early next month.
- Starbucks will install a kiosk in an area formerly used for customer service. It should be open at the beginning of next month.
- Budget clothing store Forever 21 is taking the second-floor space vacated by McDonald's and Body Shop.
- Children's shoe store Stride Rite took a second-floor space vacated by Pearle Vision Center. Pearle, in turn, moved to the storefront formerly occupied by sports memorabilia store Time Out Arcade, which left the mall.
- Custom teddy-bear maker Pawsenclaws & Co. moved out on the second floor. It will be replaced this fall by a similar business, Build-a-Bear Workshop.
- Eastern Mountain Sports closed its second-floor store this spring as part of a company-wide mall pullout. Its replacement, Christopher & Banks, will begin renovation this month or early in June.
- Mastercuts is closed for renovation, while Foot Locker recently reopened after redoing its space.
The interior renovations are expected to wrap up in time for the opening of the upscale addition in August, though not all the new stores will be open.
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