View Full Version : Heritage Park Dillards closing could Crossroads be next?



Jay
01-18-2006, 06:56 PM
Dillard's to close store in Heritage Park Mall
By Tricia Pemberton
The Oklahoman

The Dillard's store at Heritage Park Mall is closing in about six weeks, displacing about 90 employees, a spokeswoman confirmed Tuesday.

"The associates were informed Monday that we will be closing the Midwest City store in mid- to late March," company spokeswoman Julie Bull said.

The employees will be relocated to other area stores, she said.
Other Dillard's stores in the state will stay open.

Little Rock, Ark.-based Dillard's has closed about 10 stores nationwide in the past year, including three announced this month. At the same time, the company has opened about nine stores and has plans for nine more this year. Several of the store openings have been to replace existing stores, Bull said.

"Over the past few years, we've been focusing on closing underperforming locations, and this is one of those cases," Bull said. "There are thriving Dillard's stores in other locations in this market, and we believe we can serve customers through those stores."

The company is committed to the Oklahoma market, and the closing is not a reflection of its success in the state, she said.

Sharon Banta, manager at Heritage Park Mall, said the mall has not received formal notice of the closing.

"We're certainly not happy, and we hope we can convince them to stay," Banta said. "But we're also looking at this as a positive opportunity to bring in another retailer if they do close."

Banta said the mall already has been in talks with other potential anchors, such as J.C. Penney Co. Inc. The mall's owners -- a group based in Culver City, Calif., doing business here as Heritage Mall LLC -- also have been talking to a theater group, she said.

The mall is in a $1 million redevelopment process, which will enclose the south exterior with glass and add interior upgrades throughout. A children's play area is planned for the space in front of Dillard's, Banta said.

"The mall has been doing great," Banta said. "Our traffic has increased, and our sales have increased in the last year. This holiday was great -- better than last year."

Banta wishes Dillard's would give the mall a chance to succeed under new ownership.
Carl Edwards, retail specialist and co-owner of Price Edwards & Co., said he's not surprised by Dillard's decision to close in Heritage Park.

"A lot of retailers are looking at their bottom-tier stores and closing them while opening others," he said.

Still, Dillard's pullout may not be encouraging for others who might consider locating in the mall, he said.

"It doesn't mean they can't redirect the mall, but over the years it has never had the size to be a real strong regional mall," Edwards said. "A lot of Midwest City shoppers went out of the area, and in the past there was a safety issue. That's hard to recover from."

Mary Grace of Grace Commercial Realty said the mall will have to look at a new tenant mix with the loss of an anchor.