Local Economy Upper Valley Mall
By Eric Schwartzberg and Everdeen Mason
Staff Writers
When Upper Valley Mall opened 40 years ago, it was declared to be “southern Ohio’s most luxurious new mall” in a grand-opening special section in the paper.
Now, the mall struggles to compete with lifestyle centers such as The Greene in Beavercreek and outlet centers such as the Cincinnati Premium Outlets in Monroe.
But the notion that lifestyle and outlet centers have hastened the death of enclosed malls is false, a shopping center industry official said.
“The real hot trend was the open-air center, the lifestyle center, in terms of what was being built,” said Jesse Tron, spokesman for the International Council of Shopping Centers.
“However, the regional malls and super regional malls are still continuing to fare quite well.”
Tron noted that existing malls such as the Dayton Mall in Miami Twp. and the Mall at Fairfield Commons in Beavercreek are benefiting from the overall lack of new mall construction as retailers begin to expand operations after the recession.
“There’s very little new development in the pipeline, which means that those expanding retailers are going into current space, therefore reducing the vacancy rate,” Tron said.
While the vacancy rate varies by location, the malls’ vacancy rate nationwide was about 7 percent in the third quarter, he said.
Officials for Simon Mall, which owns Upper Valley Mall, refused to disclose the mall’s vacancy rate. A walkthrough of the mall revealed five vacancies.
Brenda LaBonte, the mall’s general manager, said she was not able to confirm the number of occupants at the mall, but said Upper Valley Mall was very close to the national average occupancy rate of 93.9 percent.
Neighboring malls appear to be doing better, one of the factors in leading local consumers away from the mall.
“I used to come to the mall all the time, but I stopped coming,” said Samantha Dunn of Springfield as she walked the mall with a friend. “There’s not much here, a lot of stores are gone. I started going to Fairfield Mall.”
At the Mall at Fairfield Commons, 99 percent of the mall’s 1.1 million square feet of retail space is occupied and four spaces remain unfilled, according to general manager Bruce Goldsberry. Yoogurt, Toys ‘R’ Us Express and Rue 21 are three of the mall’s most recent additions.
At the 1.4 million-square-foot Dayton Mall, where an expansion took place several years ago, 95 percent of retail space is filled, according to Dave Duebber, general manager.
Self-serve frozen yogurt shop Tutti Frutti opened Nov. 11 and Little Treasures opened earlier in the month November. DSW Designer Shoe Warehouse is relocating to a larger space inside the mall by early spring.
Tenants at the mall usually sign 5- to 10-year leases, but shorter-term leases are not unheard of “mainly just because you’re not locking in, (they’re) seeing how the economy goes, how the concept goes,” Duebber said.
The economy has helped the local mall. LaBonte said the mall has six new tenants this year, including Encore Shoes and Gourmet Gift Baskets, but she could not disclose how many are temporary holiday stores.
The new tenants haven’t gone unnoticed.
As Anna Nuff of New Carlisle shopped at Upper Valley with her daughter, Annalisa, she said she was pleased by the progress.
“Last time I was in here most of the stores were closed, but now a lot more are open,” Nuff said. Annalisa said she was particularly excited about Encore Shoes, which opened in July.
“We usually go to Beavercreek or Dayton to shop, but it’s harder to get there. They’re so far away,” Nuff said.
“The mall is the top retail sales pull in Clark County and one of the top in the Miami Valley,” said John Detrick, president of the Clark County Commissioners. “They make up the largest single proportion of sales tax revenue.”
Detrick said that for every dollar someone local spends, 77 cents is spent in Clark County, and 23 cents in other counties.
Other counties, such as neighboring Greene County, take in $1.15 from their local shoppers.
“We’re one of the deader counties, but if we didn’t have Upper Valley Mall we’d have even less. It’s one of the main draws for the sales tax,” he said.
Construction of new enclosed shopping malls nationwide has leveled off and decreased slightly, which bodes well for existing shopping malls, according to Tron.
A good example of using current space is David Sandlin, who opened Grace’s Cards and Gifts in the Upper Valley Mall in November.
Sandlin said he had a card shop in the space for a year and a half before selling it to the Christian Armory bookstore, which opened in January. The book store has since closed, so Sandlin reopened a store in the same spot.
“After they closed, we retained some of their merchandise and some of ours,” Sandlin said. “(Business) has been good. It could be better, but I trust the Lord to provide.”
As long as tenants continue to fill current space, malls should be able to thrive. Tron said the notion that enclosed malls nationwide are dying a slow death is not true.
“That (perception) was simply because of the fact that it wasn’t the ‘hot trend’ in terms of development over the past several years,” he said.
Contact this reporter at emason@coxohio.com or (937) 328-0371.
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