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According to the bean counters, Sears is going to die at midnight and it is 11:59 PM as we speak. I have enclosed a link from Fox Business News about the issues and dire prediction here:
I am sure malls all over America our sweating the issue to quickly replace what has been the most solid anchor in most shopping centers. While I would like to think that Forest City is doing the same with Town Center, I know full well just how stupid and misplaced that hope is, because that organization has never spent money proactively.
Compounding the problem is the massive size of the Town Center Sears location and the flat retail market in West Virginia. Further making this issue murky is that if Sears does go under, it is not going to be a dripping death but probably a massive announcement and a shuttering of all their properties at the same time. The market for such locations will be inundated with prime locations all across the nation and the Town Center location is going to be well down the cherry list.
Town Center has been through this event before when Montgomery Ward died and a replacement could not be found, seemingly under any creative conditions and we eventually ended up with a business purchasing the property, tearing down the old store and building a new head quarters.
Unless the powers that be have a plan ready to go on announcement I think it would be better to reach that same conclusion and not waste any time with such a whole in the Town Center.
We have been talking of squeezing a new hotel onto the old Fifth Quarter site and all of the problems that is going to bring to the location. Why not tear down the old Sears store and build the hotel there? The parking is already there. The lobby would exit onto the street, garage and into the mall. This is a common setup in many larger cities and works very well. Town Center is mostly a tourist mall any way and this would feed that set up.
The loss of the retail space would be a concern but there is plenty of retail space all over the city and if the Sears goes under that Auto Center is going to as well. Likely someone like AutoZone, Advance, O'Reilly's or perhaps a local company like Barrick's would take over the location. A hotel as part of the mall would boost revenues, end the retail space glut and provide foot traffic and wallets to a mall that needs them.
It's only a matter of time before sears is gone. They will probably sell off the craftsman brand, but to be honest who would want it any more, they cheapend the tools up so much they are Chinese garbage now. I do find it interesting though, one thing companies that are going out of business do is sell off their email lists. I haven't shopped there or ordered anything in 5+ years and out of the blue on Tuesday I got an email from Sears asking me if this email was still a used email and that they would like me to confirm it. I didn't click but it looks like they might be trying to sure up their email list to sell it when they close. I think this will put a major hurt on malls all across the country.
Interestingly, in Morgantown I believe Penny's is stronger than Sears, but malls are a dying breed everywhere in any event. Nearly all of them are past the 30 year life expectancy rate for them. I think the trick will be to find alternative uses for the land. In Charleston's case, having the Civic Center nearby might help with that. I know city government is investing more than $80 million in fixing up the Civic Center. Do they have any funds remaining that they could use to develop that space? Does the mall owner have funds to tear down the old building and put up something else there that would be viable? Are there any private investors who might want to look at it? Those are questions that need to be asked.
Also, is the Five Guys location near the Sears at the Town Center? That might have played a role in their decision to not renew their Town Center lease.
Interestingly, in Morgantown I believe Penny's is stronger than Sears, but malls are a dying breed everywhere in any event. Nearly all of them are past the 30 year life expectancy rate for them. I think the trick will be to find alternative uses for the land. In Charleston's case, having the Civic Center nearby might help with that. I know city government is investing more than $80 million in fixing up the Civic Center. Do they have any funds remaining that they could use to develop that space? Does the mall owner have funds to tear down the old building and put up something else there that would be viable? Are there any private investors who might want to look at it? Those are questions that need to be asked.
Also, is the Five Guys location near the Sears at the Town Center? That might have played a role in their decision to not renew their Town Center lease.
That might help. Five Guys is on the opposite end of the mall but is unlisted on the current Google Map. It is located between Qdoba and Tidewater Grill facing Court Street.
Forest City does not own the anchors so the mall would not be involved in a sale or processing of the property. There is some cooperation between the owners and operators of the anchors and the mall as to access and other details but the anchors are not, technically not part of the mall. In Town Center, I have the impression that Macy's is the moneymaker but I think J C Penney does very well.
Five Guys let their lease run out and they are looking for another location within Charleston. Charleston Gazette-Mail | Five Guys closes restaurant at Town Center Mall There is currently two other Five Guys locations in the area (Southridge & Teays Valley), so that clientele shouldn't worry.
As for Sears, we have been discussing ideas for replacing Sears for a long time now. Hopefully the management at the mall has similar creativity levels and can come up with a solution. Of course Sears has not announced anything yet, so as of now we still have a tenant for the largest anchor store at the mall.
I have been an advocate of diving the space up into smaller stores and restaurants. I could see on the ground level along Clendenin Street another restaurant (Cheesecake Factory?), and maybe a Trader Joe's taking up the rest of that space and using the Quarrier Street entrance. The second and 3 levels could be split in half with each store have u floors. LA Fitness/Gold's Gym/Planet Fitness etc... could be on the Clendenin Street side with windows overlooking the street and new hotel. For the other half, an Old Navy could work out, or Barn's & Noble, or H&M? With this split up, I think you are meeting a bunch of the needs for our area and downtown. You'd also attract "lifestyle center-ish" amenities to downtown, further creating an atmosphere for people to move downtown. With my plan, you could use the existing structure, but some renovations to the exterior would be needed, as well as the reformation of the floorplan. I would imagine that the escalators would need to come out, but maybe that could be worked around.
I like Caden Grace's idea of a hotel, but I would like to see the space stay retail. Especially with a hotel already in the planning stages on the other side of the street. Maybe if Sears closes and a new hotel is build on the Fifth Quarter lot, the city can use the old store as added convention space for the civic center.
Five Guys let their lease run out and they are looking for another location within Charleston. Charleston Gazette-Mail | Five Guys closes restaurant at Town Center Mall There is currently two other Five Guys locations in the area (Southridge & Teays Valley), so that clientele shouldn't worry.
As for Sears, we have been discussing ideas for replacing Sears for a long time now. Hopefully the management at the mall has similar creativity levels and can come up with a solution. Of course Sears has not announced anything yet, so as of now we still have a tenant for the largest anchor store at the mall.
I have been an advocate of diving the space up into smaller stores and restaurants. I could see on the ground level along Clendenin Street another restaurant (Cheesecake Factory?), and maybe a Trader Joe's taking up the rest of that space and using the Quarrier Street entrance. The second and 3 levels could be split in half with each store have u floors. LA Fitness/Gold's Gym/Planet Fitness etc... could be on the Clendenin Street side with windows overlooking the street and new hotel. For the other half, an Old Navy could work out, or Barn's & Noble, or H&M? With this split up, I think you are meeting a bunch of the needs for our area and downtown. You'd also attract "lifestyle center-ish" amenities to downtown, further creating an atmosphere for people to move downtown. With my plan, you could use the existing structure, but some renovations to the exterior would be needed, as well as the reformation of the floorplan. I would imagine that the escalators would need to come out, but maybe that could be worked around.
I like Caden Grace's idea of a hotel, but I would like to see the space stay retail. Especially with a hotel already in the planning stages on the other side of the street. Maybe if Sears closes and a new hotel is build on the Fifth Quarter lot, the city can use the old store as added convention space for the civic center.
I had a conversation with someone in corporate Five Guys yesterday. The Town Center location was bleeding money. They blamed two things. 1) Very poor foot traffic. 2) the foot traffic they did have was mostly people from the transit mall area looking to keep warm/cool. Harassing patrons for $ and trying to get free food/drink on a regular basis. Basically chasing off the paying clientele.
The Southridge, Teays Valley, and Pullman Square locations are doing fine for now. This info coming directly from a very reliable source.
I do hate to see what is happening to Sears. But some of the ideas expressed in this thread do sound like a good idea for the Town Center location. A nice high rise hotel in that location, connected with the rest of the mall would be a very nice addition to downtown. And make the civic center an even bigger draw for events.
We have allowed the bankers run everything and I believe that is a huge mistake. The bankers decided that Craftsmen tools needed to be made cheaper. I used to be more than willing to pay extra for a tool that I knew was well made but that no longer describes Craftsmen.
I believe that people would be willing to pay for service. For a knowledgeable sales staff. I will also acknowledge that maybe it's just me.
I recently bought a big screen 4K television. I could have paid less at Wal-Mart but I really appreciated the salespersons knowledge where I bought it. (H.H. Gregg).
If I ran Sears.......the sales staff would be on a wage/commission basis. They would be knowledgeable on the items they sell. The people in the shoe dept would know how to make sure someone got a proper fit. The person selling jeans would know how to measure a person and know the different brands and how the sizes lined up with your measurement.
Maybe I really am in the minority that appreciates a knowledgeable staff but I can't be the only one.
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