JUST IN. Century III Mall to close. (West Mifflin, Turtle Creek: moving to, food)

[neurodistortion]

Originally Posted by BleedBlack&Gold

Updated news on Century III:

[LEFT]Exodus of merchants continues at Century III Mall
Thursday, January 22, 2009
By Mary Niederberger, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The struggles of trying to fill the empty spaces at Century III Mall are being made significantly worse by the exodus of 10 more businesses that have either left in recent weeks or will close within the coming weeks.
The closings, which include two large parcels --Macy's Furniture Store and Steve & Barry's -- are the result of a tough economy, corporate bankruptcies and reorganizations, and expired leases, said mall Manager Gina Mercorelli.
Steve & Barry's has already closed and the Macy's Furniture Store is expected to close by March.
Another large space will be left empty on Monday when Old Navy closes its doors. No announcement was made of the closing by the chain when just two weeks ago, employees assured shoppers that the store was not closing, even though a major clearance was taking place and shelves were emptying.


Read more here:
Exodus of merchants continues at Century III Mall
[/LEFT]

If you haven't noticed, that article is at least a year old. raubre, The Macy's Furniture and Steve & Barry's closures were in fact due to corporate bankruptcies and reorganizations. Macy's closed 10 stores in 2009 and 5 stores in 2010. Steve & Barry's had a wave of store closings sometime in 2007-2008 although its Century III store was still open. When the company filed for bankruptcy, that's when all the other stores were shuttered, including Century III. KB Toys also closed due to bankruptcy. Ruby Tuesday closed because of an expired lease, that's more of a company decision, they have been allowing leases to expire in even better performing malls such as Westmoreland Mall as they concentrate on their freestanding locations. While Century III is not performing as expected, it hasn't been dropping stores like crazy as of late, which is good. Some stores are even moving in. Bradley's Books, a local bookstore chain is moving in to fill the space formerly occupied by Borders Express, and Dollar General is planning to move into an enlarged space formerly occupied by Dollar Tree and KB Toys.

[cherrystar]

Thank goodness! I work in the mall and nothing irritates me more than customers asking me if we are closing just because we are doing a floor move *rolls eyes*

[BleedBlack&Gold]

Yes, I did realize it is an older article and I posted it just to confirm the anchor stores still at Century III and those that have left the past year. I take two elderly people to the mall every morning to walk. The mall is pretty quiet, of course, but there are not many stores open during that time so it's hard to tell which are open later and which are done sometimes. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people who walk the mall earlier in the day, but most leave around 2 or so. Many, however, visit the food court and do buy a lot during the week. So with that said, here is hoping the mall does not close not only for the sake of the mall, but for those who rely on the mall to get out of the cold, excercise and socialize. It would truly be shame if the mall would close.

[hempfield mania]

C3 Mall is a ghost town and was all during the Christmas shopping season. It is on life support right now and doesn't even have any "decent" stores in it anymore. Even the food court is a sad disappointment from what it once was but that is just a reflection of how bad it has gotten there. When you start touting a "Dollar General" coming into what is supposed to be a major mall, you know that mall is living on borrowed time. Can you imagine a Dollar General moving in next to Nordstrom's up at Ross Park Mall?

[mode09]

What century 3 mall needs is a shoe store. Someplace I can buy a good pair of tennis shoes. I looked high and low in the mall and could not find anyplace to get any shoes!

[szug-bot]

edit!

[neurodistortion]

What the mall needs is a new owner with a lot of capital to invest in it. Simon has been neglecting the property for too long now and I think it could do better under new ownership and new management. Stores are mostly average bread-and-butter shops and several teen stores which are indicative of the area. Also, the perception of crime seems distorted, at least when you compare it to other malls. Look at Monroeville's stats compared to C3's stats and you'll see a difference in the level of crime that happens up there. People also like to associate gangs up there... have you people seriously ever seen a real gang? The people you describe as "gangs" are just lowlifes who have nothing better to do than to go to the mall, and that's at every mall.

[raubre]

I always thought C3M got stores at least 10 years too late. Look how long it took them to get a Dick's. Look how long it took them to get a Disney Store. By that time the chain went out of business and the store closed. They need stores that will attract. They need a Barnes and Noble (not Bradley's.) They don't need a Dollar General either (those are everywhere BUT malls.) What's next? Goodwill?

[Renaldo5000]

Originally Posted by raubre

What's next? Goodwill?

Look for a soup kitchen to open up in the food court.

[neurodistortion]

Originally Posted by raubre

I always thought C3M got stores at least 10 years too late. Look how long it took them to get a Dick's. Look how long it took them to get a Disney Store. By that time the chain went out of business and the store closed. They need stores that will attract. They need a Barnes and Noble (not Bradley's.) They don't need a Dollar General either (those are everywhere BUT malls.) What's next? Goodwill?

Again, blame it on Simon. They could get a Barnes & Noble among other better stores if they actually spent the money to revamp the entire mall but they'd rather put C3 on the backburner than invest more money to keep the mall viable. C3's not the only exception to the rule, there are other malls like C3 that are in the same situation because the mall owners would rather invest money in newer and more affluent malls rather than take the time to improve business in their older malls.