Great Indoors Empty Spaces Filling In At Spokane Valley Mall, Bringing Holiday Cheer

Linda Langer sat under a palm tree, surrounded by bags of clothes and Christmas toys. Nearby, next to a 39-foot Christmas tree, sat Santa himself, surrounded by dozens of children and their parents.

It’s that time of year and, right on cue, shoppers are flocking to the new Spokane Valley Mall, which is decorated in holiday finery for its first Christmas retail season.

“I love it,” said Langer, a Post Falls resident who was among the estimated crowd of 20,000 people who visited the mall last Friday, traditionally the busiest shopping day of the year.

“It’s got everything here. I never have a hard time finding what I want,” she said.

When the 750,000-square foot Valley Mall opened on August 13, about one-third of its retail space was still vacant. Since then, the number of stores at the mall has increased from 70 to 93.

That growth has shoppers, merchants and mall managers full of good cheer this holiday season.

New businesses at the mall include three jewelery stores, three apparel stores and several gift and novelty shops.

More are on the way. Gap and GapKids stores will be open by next fall, said Wendy LePiane, the mall’s marketing director. Others coming include clothing retailer Wet Seal and Old Country Buffet, which plans to move to the mall from its present location at Sprague and Pines.

Mall officials said they predicted in August that the Valley Mall would have 80 stores open by Dec. 1. “We have surpassed that,” LePiane said.

Rex Frazier, president of Salt Lake City-based JPRealty, the mall’s owner, said it typically takes a year to 18 months for a new shopping mall to reach full capacity.

There are still more than a dozen walls covering vacant store spaces in the mall. Some have signs announcing coming retailers. Others offer space for lease.

Carla Radford’s gift shop, Street of Dreams, is one of the mall’s original tenants.

Since August, she’s seen an increase in foot traffic and she has quadrupled the volume of merchandise in her shop.

Gary Waters, the store’s manager, said “It would have been nicer if it would have been fuller (for the holiday season). … The public does notice when there are empty spaces.”

Empty spaces could be filled with more bookstores, clothing stores and other shops. “It brings a variety to the mall,” he said.

Valley resident Sheri Bauman said she likes having the mall so close to her front door. But, she laments, it doesn’t have the same selection as NorthTown.

“I like the stores (at NorthTown),” she said. “And they don’t have a play area (for children). I think a lot of mothers like that.”

Lynnae McGillen, manager of the de Rika clothing store at the Valley Mall, said there’s plenty of selection at the mall.

“We do have a lot of variety. The same as everywhere else.”

And although it’s not a full capacity, she said she’s pleased with the progress.

“(The mall management) has filled the empty spaces quickly. Construction seems to be going on all the time,” she said.

And that’s good news, McGillen said. “People like to see full spaces, not empty ones.”

“I love the mall out here. It has really good potential as we get more big name shops,” she said.

Linda Langer agrees.

“It’s just beautiful,” she said surveying the holiday scene at the mall, where holly is draped from rafters.

And like sweet music to retailers’ ears, Langer said she’ll be back in coming days.

“I could probably do all my shopping here,” she said. “I’ll probably be shopping up to December 24th.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 Color)

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: MORE STORES IN STORE FOR SPOKANE VALLEY MALL The Spokane Valley Mall opened in August with 70 stores. Since then, the number of stores has increased to 93, mall executives said. These stores have opened in the past three months:

Beauty Beauty Works Fantastic Sams

Gifts/novelty/music Afterthoughts Homeworks Beaver Creek Embroidery Malecki Music Marketplace Gifts Pegleg Gift Galley Silver Safari Vista Optical

Miscellaneous/food Alert Cellular AT&T Wireless CanAm Field Services (market research) Courtside Deli GTE Wireless Tomlinson Black

Apparel/Shoes Fashion Ventures Northern Reflections Northern Getaway Payless Shoesource

Jewelry Harry Ritchie Jewelers Cresent Jewelers Kay Jewelers

These stores have signed leases for future openings at the mall: Visible Spectrum to open this week. Gap and GapKids to open next August. Wet Seal to open next year. Old Country Buffet Card Farm Uno Pizerria