Thursday, August 14, 2008

Mervyn's Closing Stores at Local Malls

Mervyn's announced Wednesday that is will be closing 26 under-performing stores (Avalos, 2008, ¶ 1). The list of closures includes the Mervyn's at Fairfield's Westfield Solano and Antioch's Somersville Towne Center (Avalos, ¶ 2). The Mervyn’s at Newark’s NewPark Mall closed last month, but was not part of the bankruptcy closings. Other non-mall closures of Mervyn’s include Livermore’s Plaza 580, Napa’s downtown, Reno, Sparks, and Carson City, NV.

With department store consolidations, the number of anchor stores available for traditional malls has dramatically decreased. Macerich, owners of Somersville Towne Center, may be hard-pressed to find an available tenant to replace Mervyn’s. The nearest Kohl’s is located in Brentwood. However, this does open the opportunity for redeveloping the store site as an entertainment venue similar to that being considered for NewPark Mall. Solano mall already has a cinema, so Westfield might have more difficulty in finding a replacement. The nearest Kohl’s is in Vacaville and few alternative anchors are available. With retail spending down, both Somersville Towne Center and Westfield Solano might just be without a fourth anchor tenant for a few years.

The Mervyn’s stores are expected to close in late October or early November (Avalos, 2008, ¶ 2).

Reference
Avalos, G. (2008, August 14). Mervyns closing four Bay Area stores; two in East Bay. InsideBayArea.com. Retrieved from http://www.insidebayarea.com/ci_10191226?source=most_emailed

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Neiman Marcus Commits to Broadway Plaza Walnut Creek


It's official. Neiman Marcus has signed the lease to open a new store at Walnut Creek's tony Broadway Plaza (San Francisco Business Times, 2008).

The new building will be located at the corner of Mount Diablo Boulevard and Main Street. According to Sarah Duxbury "Adding Neiman Marcus will require Macerich, which owns Broadway Plaza, to raze the 46,000 square feet that house Baby Gap, Gap Kids and David M. Brian and to develop a parking lot" (Duxbury, 2008). Parking is horribly impossible at this shopping center, so let's hope for MANY new parking spaces.

I've uploaded a MSN Live bird's eye view of the shopping center with a red box around the redevelopment area. No word on the future of P.F. Chang's China Bistro, but it's likely the new building will wrap around the existing restaurant. The rest of the block probably will be razed.

If all goes well, shopper's can buy signature NM gifts in December 2010. Otherwise, look for an early 2011 opening.
Scott


References
Duxbury, S. (2008, March 14). Neiman Marcus has plans for Walnut Creek. San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved from http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/03/17/story8.html?jst=s_cn_hl

San Francisco Business Times. (2008, August 4). Neiman Marcus inks lease for new Walnut Creek building. San Francisco Business Times. Retrieved from http://www.bizjournals.com/sanfrancisco/stories/2008/08/04/daily2.html?f=et78&ana=e_du

Saturday, August 02, 2008

Vintage Postcards: Eastridge Mall


Here is a rare Eastridge Mall postcard showing the view towards JCPenney from the Sears court.

The back of the postcard reads: "Eastridge Shopping Center, the largest in the West, is a shopper's paradise comprising over 160 shops and four major department stores under one roof. The three climate controlled levels are unique in their bold design. Capitol Expressway, Tully, and Quimby Roads, San Jose, California."

As a recipient of this postcard, after reading the description, I'd flip over the card to look at the picture and ask "what three levels?" Maybe this is a "collect them all" situation.

Some of the stores featured in this postcard is The Clothes Barn with Singer just below it. You can see Jarman in the center court, whch is seen prominently from the Sears court (a feature of Taubman malls, inline shops have high visibility).

Enjoy!
Scott
See the current aerial.

Visit my review of Eastridge Mall.