Yikes, Gateway Mall sure is in trouble now that Steve & Barry's is closing. The mall has already seen several tenants pack up and move away, and now a relatively popular anchor tenant is pulling up stakes. It's a bit of a shame. Westfield has really been sprucing up Gateway since it bought the mall several years back.
What sort of anchor tenant do you think would be a good fit to replace Steve and Barry's? What changes would you like to see Gateway make to help business pick up again?
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See what your friends and neighbors have to say about this.
Apparently, “relatively” popular isn’t enough to pay the bills at the mall. The company is a huge mess, and it’s not all just a Gateway issue.
As to the mall, these things often happen. A new landlord takes over, spruces things up, raises the rates, and fills the mall (or fills the mall, and then raises rates). When the leases all start to expire, there’s some shakeout.
However, the most notable closings were all signs of trouble that had little to do with Gateway. Steve and Barry’s is bankrupt, has been sold, and is closing 100 or so stores. Kay Bee toys had pretty much the same issue, and closed most, if not all, of its stores. B Dalton (owned by Barnes and Noble) has been closing all of its mall locations as the leases expire, with hopes of moving the traffic to its Barnes and Noble locations.
I suspect it’s cyclical, and you will eventually see new tenants crop up. I would presume Gateway itself is part of the problem, but not the biggest.
I remember reading a comment on Matt O’s blog about the signs in front of the mall about ‘the store’ closing. When I biked past, I saw the signs were for a jewelry store. What it seems like they need to do is just put some permanent “STORE CLOSING, 80% OFF EVERYTHING” signs along O Street, and just make it so they can interchange the names of the stores.
If they really wanted to resurrect Gateway, they would put a Whole Foods where Steve & Barry’s is (I don’t know about zoning restrictions so maybe it’s not an option). They would drive repeat traffic to the mall, including the people from south Lincoln they’ve lost to South Pointe. In addition, they would get people like me who do most of their non-food shopping online to visit the mall. I love Whole Foods, and at one point considered driving to Omaha once in a while to pick up the things that only they have.
That sucks. Steve and Berry’s is a good store to have in a college town. The jeans wern’t the best quality but damn if you couldn’t beat those prices.
That’s a good idea. Couldn’t agree with you more on Whole Foods being a big draw.
GENIUS! I love that idea.
Westfield itself isn’t looking as good as it used to. The company is still growing, but that growth is coming mainly in Australia and the UK. The US is the only region where Westfield’s revenues are dropping.
Founder Frank Lowy is under US Senate investigation for tax evasion. His son Peter refused to testify last month, pleading the 5th.
If not Whole Foods, at least a Trader Joe’s. (and 2 Buck Chuck!)
We went to Gateway Mall this weekend and it has definitely lost a little of its luster. Not bad, but you could feel it.
Part of the problem was several escalators were out of order. The other problem, of course, was vacant retail space.
The grocery idea is interesting. I like the idea but I’m guessing it wouldn’t generate a lot of cross traffic for other mall businesses. ie. not many people squeeze in jewelry shopping with their grocery shopping. Still, I like the idea.
That’d be a great space for something like Whole Foods.
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