EVERETT – Everett Mall’s addition of a half-dozen big stores last year didn’t end construction. Workers are still busy raising a new movie theater and improving the shopping center’s outside look.
Michael O’Leary / The Herald
On the mall’s south side, the 60-foot-tall facade of the new Regal Cinemas rises toward the sky. Outside the Sears store, workers are updating the building’s exterior.
As those projects move along, last year’s improvements and additions seem to be drawing more business, said Linda Johannes, the mall’s general manager.
“We’ve had lots of positive comments from shoppers, increased traffic in the mall and increased sales,” she said.
Don Shaw, district marketing manager for Borders, said people certainly are coming through the doors of the new book and music store that opened in November.
“Without revealing numbers, we’re very happy. It’s been above our expectations, I’d say,” Shaw said.
The new movie theater, which will have 16 screens and modern amenities, will open in time for the Memorial Day weekend, the traditional opening of the summer movie season.
In advance of that, the south and east parking lots surrounding the mall are getting the same treatment the north and west lots got last year. More and brighter lighting and reconfigured parking spaces should be completed by May 1 in the area around the new theater, Johannes said.
The Snohomish County PUD is upgrading the electrical wiring and equipment that serves the mall. That project will include work on Easter Sunday so workers can shut down power to parts of the mall without disrupting business.
| Major retailers that have opened since fall: Bed, Bath &Beyond; Best Buy; Borders; Old Navy; PetSmart; Quiznos Subs; and Sleep Country USA.
Opening in May: Regal Cinemas. Other mall improvements: Better lighting and revamped parking lots, exterior and interior renovations. |
Interior wiring and other equipment in the mall were upgraded over the past couple of years, Johannes said.
“There’s so much in the redevelopment that people don’t see,” she said. “They see the buildings go up and better parking, but Steadfast’s investing a lot in the infrastructure of the mall, too.”
Since Steadfast Cos. bought Everett Mall in mid-2004, it has spent at least $30 million to revamp the property.
Other tasks remain. Mervyns, which is closing its Washington state stores, will leave the mall in early 2007. Steadfast hasn’t announced who will fill that anchor space.
Inside the mall, Steadfast still is working to fill some empty storefronts. Zumiez, the Everett-based retailer of action sports clothes and equipment, has announced plans to open a larger store in the mall later this year.
Johannes said other leases are being negotiated, and Steadfast hopes to attract more stores to the 763,000-square-foot mall at this spring’s International Council of Shopping Centers convention.
Another potential tenant for The Village, the collection of large stores on the mall’s west end, also is in talks with Steadfast. Once a deal is signed, a new 20,000- to 30,000-square-foot retail building could be added next to PetSmart.
Whitey Kirschenmann, manager of the Sears store, said he’s happy the mall has opened more “big city offerings,” and is excited about the new look for his store.
“I think it’s great. The outside appearance of the mall makes it much more inviting,” he said.
Reporter Eric Fetters: 425-339-3453 or fetters@heraldnet.com.
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