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Lechters closes mall store By GREG STILES Mail Tribune The surroundings aren't as festive as you might expect less than three weeks before Christmas at one of Southern Oregon's most visible kitchen accessories stores. The thousands of pots and pans, cooking gadgets and doodads that once invited the discerning and the curious to wander into Lechters Housewares have all but disappeared. Some time today Lechters will close, and its gates on the upper deck of Rogue Valley Mall will be locked for good on Saturday. Lechters stores across the country have been liquidating merchandise since October after the sale of the 315-store Harrison, N.J., chain fell through last summer. Medford manager Wayne Kimsey, 40, and six other employees will move on. Kimsey, a chef by trade, moved to the Rogue Valley three years ago from the Arrowhead Lake area in Southern California. "When I moved here the competition at restaurants was such that I couldn't get a job as a dishwasher," Kimsey said Thursday. "But when I was walking through mall - looking for any job - I walked by this kitchenware store and thought 'Hey, I can work there.' They needed a manager, so I was hired." He said the store did better than those elsewhere. Medford's sales had improved by 30 percent last summer over the previous summer. "We thought (the company) could limp through the fall," Kimsey said. "Then when Sept. 11 came we lost a store in the World Trade Center and all the malls closed. We didn't take in dollar one here." Kimsey said he would likely take a position with Michaels, the craft chain, where several Lechters regional managers moved some time ago. Assistant manager Chris Kliebenstein plans to go beautician school. Retail leasing specialist Thomas Laczay of DJM Assets Management told the Wall Street Journal last month that Lechters was hurt by an awkward market position, lacking the prestige of upscale retailers like Williams-Sonoma Inc. and yet unable to fend off Wal-Mart and Kmart. "The interesting part about Lechters is that it's tragic that it's happening now," said Allyson Holt of Allyson's of Ashland, the area's largest kitchenware store. "This is a time when home retailers and home entertaining ideas and concepts are doing well. Customers want to stay home, make great dishes and be with family." Mall General Manager Jeff Barber said the 3,300-square-foot storefront won't be vacant long. "We'll fill it rapidly, at least with a temporary tenant," Barber said, "because it's a good location." Lechters' demise follows that of Yvonne's Kitchen Shop in the mall and the Place Setters stores that operated in several Rogue Valley locations. Holt said she and her husband spent five years putting together what has proven a successful business plan after moving here from California. "If you're talking about an independent destination for kitchenware, appliances, cutlery, kitchen tools, kitchen gadgets, cookware, bakeware, gourmet foods and ingredients," Holt said, "we're the only one left." Allyson's offers cooking classes and serves food as well. "The cafe allows us to maximize the investment in our kitchen." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.