Saturday, Aug. 30, 2008

Dillard's leaving Columbia Place

Retailer to close store Nov. 4; Dillard’s at Columbiana Centre to remain open

Dillard’s will close its department store at Columbia Place before the holiday shopping season gets under way at Thanksgiving.

The Little Rock, Ark.-based chain, though, said it plans to keep open its other Midlands store at Columbiana Centre.

The 120 Dillard’s employees at Columbia Place were told Thursday the store would close Nov. 4 after 12 years, said Julie Bull, Dillard’s director of investor relations. Dillard’s will try to place as many workers as possible at its Columbiana store.

Columbia Place will be the 15th store closing in the Dillard’s chain this year. The company operates 320 stores.

“The economy does play a factor,” Bull said. “These stores are underperforming when compared to the rest of the company.”

It was too early to speculate on who will fill the 180,000-square-foot void, said Katie Reinsmidt, spokeswoman for the Columbia Place’s owner, CBL & Associates of Chattanooga, Tenn.

The space might be remodeled to house more than one store, she said. For example, the former JCPenney’s space at Columbia Pace was filled by Steve & Barry’s and Burlington Coat Factory last year.

“We will work diligently to find new tenants,” Reinsmidt said. “I think it will be a positive for the center.”

The threat of losing more of its anchor stores is looming at Columbia Place, located in the struggling Decker Boulevard corridor.

The Steve & Barry’s chain has been working through bankruptcy proceedings. The chain’s new owners could announce as early as next week which of its 276 stores will close, according to the company’s Web site.

Other anchor stores at 31-year-old mall are the area’s only Macy’s and a Sears. Attempts to reach Macy’s and Sears officials Friday were not successful.

The two-story indoor mall has 104 stores, but is seeing the second anchor move out in three years.

In 2005, JCPenney closed its 121,000-square-foot store at the end of the mall it had occupied for 27 years and moved to the Village of Sandhill at Two Notch and Clemson roads.

Columbia Place is battling shifting demographics as younger and more affluent shoppers move to Northeast Richland, home of Sandhill, and the Irmo area, where Columbiana is located.

The average household income within a three-mile radius of Decker and Two Notch, which includes Columbia Place and Midtown, was $59,560 in 2006 — about half the income figure for neighborhoods in Northeast Richland and Irmo area.

“We’ve lost a valuable business to our community,” said Sylvia Hanna, president of the Decker Boulevard Coalition. “Certainly time will tell if its closing will have any great impact.”

Sandhill developer Alan Kahn said his operation had talked with Dillard’s about moving to the Northeast Richland shopping center. “We did not do a deal, and recently they have not had contact with us,” Kahn said. “But that’s not to say there wouldn’t be contact with them in the future.”

Dillard’s once operated three stores in the Columbia area. In 2003, the company closed its location at the former Richland Mall, which now is Midtown at Forest Acres.

Staff writers Jeff Wilkinson and Chuck Crumbo contributed.