Dennis Curtis New Manager Plans To Make The Most Of Silver Lake Mall’s Advantages

Like so many who come here, Dennis Curtis fell in love with the Lake City on the golf course.

A trip to the Coeur d’Alene Resort and its immaculate golf course about three years ago sold Curtis, then the mall manager of the Heritage Mall in Albany, Ore. He vowed to move here if something opened up.

The manager’s office at Silver Lake Mall opened up in December as Ed Renfro took a position with the local D.A.R.E. program. Since Heritage and Silver Lake are both owned by Salt Lake City’s James J. Cordano Co., Curtis saw his chance and took it.

“My parents are from the Spokane area, and this is just a beautiful place,” he said. As an avid golfer, he agreed the area is tough to beat for quality play on the links.

After five years of managing the Heritage Mall, Curtis finds his new role quite similar. Heritage had three of the four anchor stores that Silver Lake has and was roughly the same size.

But of the five malls that James J. Cordano manages in the region, Silver Lake is by far the most successful. In December it reached 100 percent occupancy for the first time, and has seen steady growth in sales per square foot of the facility.

“We’ve got a reasonably captive audience for sales here,” Curtis said. “But I’ve always been amazed to see the sales Silver Lake has had considering the population base that surrounds us.”

Regional tourists and Canadian shoppers have made up significant portions of Silver Lake sales in its five-year history. Despite a high Canadian exchange rate that kept some shoppers north of the border this year, Silver Lake should continue to be a regional magnet for shopping, he said.

The mall has several advantages beyond being the biggest enclosed shopping space in North Idaho. The building itself still looks reasonably new and the area has been growing steadily in the years it has been open.

“We take a lot of pride in keeping our malls in top condition,” Curtis said. “As a management company, it’s our job to provide the best facilities for our retailers.”

The recent addition of Granny’s Buffet restaurant has been a boon for the mall, Curtis said. The restaurant nearly acts as a fifth anchor for the mall because of the number of people it brings in. “Everyone has been very pleased with how it has drawn.”

The mall site itself still has two areas or “pads” where stores can locate. An Ernst hardware and nursery store and a Target discount store located behind the mall increase the number of people headed in the mall’s direction.

Tenants say that the good economy has helped their stores stay profitable. Dave Jensen, manager of the J.C. Penney store in the mall, said sales remain strong.

“This has been a very good business climate to do retail in,” said Jensen, who credits the Cordano management for some of the mall’s success. He’ll look forward to working with Curtis, he said.

One thing that could take the shine off the mall’s appeal could be the mounting traffic on Highway 95 and Government Way, which border the mall to the west and east respectively. Heavy traffic around malls can discourage shoppers, but Curtis recognizes Silver Lake doesn’t have that problem to the extent larger malls do.

Along with keeping the mall tenants happy, Curtis wants to make sure Silver Lake gives back to the community. The mall sponsors two events each month that benefit local schools, said marketing director Laurie Hatch. Each of those nights a total of 15 percent of proceeds from the food court go toward an elementary school.

Starting in February, Hatch will have a kids club at the mall featuring games and activities for children on the first Saturday of each month, she said.

You can expect to see Curtis’ two boys there. He and wife Lisa are enjoying the change of scenery, he said.

Now the challenge is to keep the mall’s momentum rolling, he said.

“A lot of the success here comes from what the tenants do,” he said. “But if we can help market the whole mall, we can make their jobs a little easier.”