New Owner: ‘Strong lineup of tenants’ essential to mall’s success.
Locally owned and operated businesses have been leaving Mount Berry Square Mall since the mall was acquired last year by the retail development company Hull Storey Gibson.
Connect City Church, for example, had space in the mall for approximately 18 months, but has moved to a location on Highway 27 on the Floyd/Chattooga County line.
“It was after we chose to shut down that [the mall’s developers decided they] were not interested in having a church that was only in operation one day a week,” said Drew Burnett, pastor of Connect City Church.
The church received a letter from the mall’s owners letting the church know that its lease would not be renewed, he said.
Other businesses that have vacated the mall in the last year include Pokey’s Hometown Sports, Medley, A Touch of Wireless, and B. Cooper Ice Cream, according to reports in the Rome News-Tribune.
The mall was acquired in September last year from Urban Retail Properties for approximately $6 million, according to WRGA Rome’s News Talk.
According to its website, Hull Storey Gibson also owns 17 other malls in midsized markets in North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, Alabama, Texas and Florida. Its malls in Georgia are located in LaGrange, Macon, Milledgeville and Statesboro.
A national focus
The shift in tenants clearly is away from locally owned businesses.
“We have spent the last six months studying the market to be able to effectively draw tenants to Rome’s only enclosed mall,” said Coles Hull, the marketing analyst for Hull Storey Gibson.
She said that when considering new stores for the mall, Hull Storey Gibson looks at whether the store will be able to be operate long hours and still produce high volume.
“We know that a strong lineup of tenants is crucial to the success of an enclosed shopping mall,” Hull said. “We also know that an enclosed shopping mall is a unique venue because the mall is open morning, noon and night, every day of the week, compared to a typical 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. business that might be open Monday through Friday.”
Hull declined to identify the stores that might be coming to the mall.
She did say, however, that because the mall is a property in transition, national stores are appealing because they tend to be the most successful in terms of sales volume and loyal customer bases.
Changes underway
Major cosmetic changes have already occurred to increase visibility inside the mall, Hull said. These changes include removing kiosks and vending machines, as well as the mall’s large carousel.
Tricia Dillard, the operations marketing manager for the mall before and after the sale, said the new ownership group “emphasizes quality over quantity,” in terms of events and promotions.
Dillard, a Berry alumnus, began working for the mall in May 2012.
The aesthetic changes and the expectation of new tenants has produced a “refreshing change of pace,” Dillard said, who graduated with a degree in Communication.
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