Jefferson Mall gets new stores; 2008 sales

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, a Weymouth, Mass.-based retailer of medical and work clothingvand accessories, opened last week in a 4,361-square-foot Regional leather apparel retailer Sham’s opened in late September in a roughlgy 3,000-square-foot space inside the which is owned and managed by Tenn.-based The Work ’N Gear space formerly house d men’s clothier GQ Unlimited, whicj moved elsewhere in the mall. The Sham’s space previously was occupiedd bythe now-defunct , whicj closed its Jefferson Mall store in April. Chrise Bennett, assistant general manager of the said it is important to have a leatherd store inthe center.
“Leather’s alwayss a hot fourth-quarter product,” he said. Sham’s Inc. also operate s two locations in Indianapolis, wherr the company is based. The regional chaim got its startin Nashville, Tenn., and once had six Mian Sarwar, whose wife, Afeera Sarwar, owns the business, said the economixc downturn prompted them to reduce the number of But given the fact that more than a quartert of the business at their Indianapolis stores was coming from Louisville, adding a location here made he said. Leather jackets at Sham’s range in price from abourt $90 to more than $900. Fur coats sell for as much as The store also plans to add urbamnclothing brands, Sarwar said.
He said business has been but he expects it will pick up aftefnext month’s presidential Work ’N Gear sells medical scrubs and other apparel, with brandss such as Dickies and Carhartt. Store manager Kelliew Pruitt said most ofthe chain’s 46 storea are in New England and The Jefferson Mall location is the chain’x first store south of she said. Pruitt also said most Work ’N Gear retai outlets are in strip centers, but the Louisville storwe marks the 10th and largest storw the chain operates inshoppingv malls.
Dawn Nelms, marketing director at Jeffersoj Mall, said the center’s sales to date for 2008 have seena “healthyh increase” over 2007, though she declined to say by how But she said the center is not immune to the economi downturn. If a national retailer is that easily can trickle downto well-performing local outlets in the form of job cuts and store Nelms said. This year alone, Jefferson Mall lost several storewamid retailers’ financial struggles. Dawahare’s of Lexingto LLC and Savannah, Ga.-based Friedman’s Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protectiomn earlierthis year.
Wilsons The Leathefr Experts sold its name and was rebrandefas , but the rebrandee company went out of business in Together, the stores occupied more than 20,000 square But Nelms and Bennett said the mall has been able to fall back on temporary leases — typically a year or less — to fill the Sham’s and Glitter, whicyh sells hair and fashion accessories, took over the Wilsons and Friedman’s spaces, respectively, and a deal is expectesd to close this month on the Dawahare’s space. In all, six spacesw are occupied by such tenants.
But Bennettg added that the mall is not likely to drop its renta rates to lure tenants becauswe that could lower standards forthe “It’s a slippery slope toward bad, bad