Photo by Erin Nelson.
A customer walks into Sears at Riverchase Galleria. Mall managers and city officials see the upcoming closure of Sears as an opportunity to redevelop the Galleria.
The upcoming closure of the Sears department store at the Riverchase Galleria is being heralded by mall managers and city officials as a great opportunity for redevelopment.
The company that bought Sears out of bankruptcy for $5.2 billion in February announced in early August it would close the nearly 147,000-square-foot Sears at the Riverchase Galleria come late October, along with 20 other Sears and five Kmart stores across the country.
The Sears Auto Center, just across the ring road that goes around the Galleria, was slated for closure in late August.
Hoover Mayor Frank Brocato said city officials were not surprised by the news. “We’ve known it was coming,” he said. “We’re not shocked by it in any way.”
Brocato said he’s disappointed for all the Sears employees who will lose their jobs, but he feels the economy is strong enough right now that they will be able to find other employment.
With that being an anchor store, the city certainly will lose some tax revenues, “but not a loss we can’t overcome,” Brocato said. “We feel very much in other areas we’ll be able to make up for that along the way.”
The upside is that the closing of Sears will provide mall owners a chance to start doing some things to really change the way the mall looks, the mayor said.
The city of Hoover’s comprehensive plan approved by the Hoover Planning and Zoning Commission in July calls for a major transformation of the Riverchase Galleria campus. The plan states a desire to turn the Galleria campus into more of a downtown “city center.” The idea is to have a “main street” look on Galleria Circle, the ring road around the mall, with multi-story buildings right up against both sides of the road, like you might see in a traditional urban downtown.
The departure of Sears could allow some of that to start happening, Brocato said.
NUMEROUS OPTIONS
City officials have heard of at least three entities wanting to buy the Sears site, he said.
He’s not sure whether another big-box retailer would take the place of Sears because there aren’t a lot of those type stores opening right now, he said. “You may see that entire building go away or you may see it redeveloped in some way.”
There have been discussions about a possible residential component at the Galleria, such as upscale apartments or condos, or perhaps a performing arts center.
Brocato said there is a lot of energy for the idea of performing arts center right now, but he would have to talk with other city leaders to see if that’s something the city should pursue and, if so, if that’s the place to do it. “It’s certainly something we want to review. We’ll have to study those types of things.”
Brookfield Properties, the owner of the Galleria, is one of the largest shopping center operators in the country, so the city will tap into that company’s knowledge and experience, Brocato said.
“The good thing about the Galleria is that it’s doing very well. The economics are very good here. People are moving here,” he said. “We’re not dealing with a mall that is failing or a city that is failing. We’re dealing with a mall that is vibrant and a city that is vibrant with many possibilities and opportunities.”
Lindsay Kahn, the senior manager of public relations for Brookfield Properties, said the plans to redevelop the Sears site at the Galleria are in progress, but the company is not ready to talk more about them until they are finished.
Sears has been an important part of the mall’s history, she said. “However, getting that valuable real estate back is an opportunity for us to evolve Riverchase,” she said.
The closure of the full-size department store and auto center should not affect the Sears Outlet that opened in the nearby Patton Creek shopping center in May, said Gene Morrow, one of the managers there. That store relocated from Homewood and deals mainly in appliances and furniture, he said.
Photo by Erin Nelson.
Customers walk into Sears Auto Center at Riverchase Galleria.
SHOPPER REACTIONS
Some shoppers at the Galleria said they will miss Sears.
“Sears has been around forever. … We used to buy everything we bought from Sears,” said James McAdams, a Mt. Olive man whose wife formerly worked at the Sears locations in downtown Birmingham and Fairfield. “Nearly everything I ever bought was Craftsman.”
Lowe’s has started carrying some Craftsman goods but doesn’t have as much as Sears, he said. “We’ll miss it.”
Hoover resident Deborah Lawrence said Sears always had good sales, while David Jones of McCalla said he wouldn’t miss the store much because he does most of his shopping online.
Homer Brown, who owns the BumperNets store right next to Sears, said a lot of people expected Sears to eventually close at the mall. He just hates to see it leave before the Christmas shopping season.
He thinks his store will be OK in the short term because it has an outside entrance between Sears and Macy’s and he has a strong customer base. He’s excited about the potential changes coming long term.
Brown’s store has been at the Galleria for more than 18 years, and he loves it there, he said. “I’d rather be here in this mall than in a strip center,” Brown said.
Mike White, the general manager at the Galleria, said there have been a number of possibilities talked about for the Sears property and there will be more meetings in the near future. When asked if a residential component was being considered, he said, “I wouldn’t rule anything out.”
The departure of Sears actually is something that is a really great opportunity, he said. “We think we have the opportunity to have something come out of this that’s really special.”
