Document text
The mall still matters Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell The Rogue Valley Mall has evolved over 15 years to become a regional draw for shoppers. Although locally owned downtown merchants suffered after the mall opened in 1986, many have taken advantage of what the mall has to offer and have grown because of it. The mall now finds itself competing with ever-growing strip malls, like the giant just down the street anchored by Costco. Fifteen years after opening day, the Rogue Valley mall has more competition than it once did - but its general manager says there's plenty of room for all By GREG STILES It's no longer state of the art, yet the Rogue Valley Mall remains a vibrant part of Southern Oregon's retail economy. Monday marks the regional mall's 15th anniversary. The 813,000 square feet of shopping space is both a monument to local residents' patience and a constant reminder of changing shopping trends. The 52 acres between Bear Creek and Riverside Drive were nothing more than an ugly pile of dirt for years as the project wallowed in a political, legal and economic quagmire. After trucks hauled in half a million cubic yards of fill, the Mail Tribune reported that preparation and site work got bogged down during the extremely wet and recessionary winter of 1981-82. Somehow, the project advanced, and Price Development Inc. of Salt Lake City announced in August of 1984 that the mall would open in October 1986. "It seemed to fulfill expectations better than I thought a mall in this size of community would," said Lou Hannum, mayor when the mall opened. He was concerned customers accustomed to shopping choices in San Francisco or Portland might be frustrated. "Because we weren't really that large, I suspected there was going to be some disappointment. But I don't think there was; they did have enough variety and new things that people were excited when it opened." Local politicians, many of them also merchants, originally sought a mall built downtown. But in a 1972 election for $4.3 million in general obligation bonds, 58 percent voted no. That led to "the Great Shopping Center War of 1977-78," a battle over the mall's location. The two primary sites were then land being developed along Biddle Road across from the airport and the site that eventually won out. Yes, there was an impact on downtown merchants. But Hannum, a retired B.F. Goodrich economist, thinks the overall result was good for the community. "There were some businesses that didn't make it and I think it kind of affected Medford center and some of the downtown merchants - unfortunately - in a bad way," Hannum says. "But most of what suffered ultimately recovered." Fifteen years ago, former state legislator and Mayor Al Densmore told the Mail Tribune that if the mall couldn't be built downtown, it should be built at the site closest to downtown to prevent urban sprawl. "Both sites had problems, but the airport site would have contributed to strip development outside the community and to decay of downtown and the whole north side," Densmore said in 1986. "But only time will tell if we made the right decision." The strip shopping centers - chiefly along Biddle Road and Crater Lake Highway - came anyway. "Looking back, I think I'm most disappointed that it didn't contribute more to revitalizing or infilling the area (along Riverside) from the downtown core out to the mall site," Densmore says. "I think that it's happening, but it's happening pretty slowly. The most visible thing that's happening is the Lithia (Toyota) development on Riverside and McAndrews and that's helped that corner dramatically." Today, mall space is 80 percent leased (the historic high is 86 percent), with three stores opening this year. The most recent entry is the Thomas Kinkade Gallery, which opened at the end of September. "This area has become what other larger cities used to be for us," Barber says. ". We're doing the highest sales we've ever done. ," says Barber, whose office tracks sales at the mall's shops. "To me, there's not a lot more than what is here that will come. What does come just creates more of a draw. "Would I want Costco in Grants Pass or here? It's just that much more of a draw here. After they go shopping for groceries at Costco, they're going to come here for their apparel and mall-type shopping." Although the mall may no longer be the social arena it once was when Movies 5 was the happening place, it still attracts shoppers from the coast and the Klamath Basin and an hour or more drive north and south. It's also got a history with many of its customers. Payless Shoe Source manager Don Vandepas has worked at the mall since day one. The Southern California transplant says the store sells between 700 and 800 pairs of shoes per week. Because the chain doesn't work on a commission basis, he doesn't know how many boxes he's rung up. But using a conservative estimate, that translates to about 546,000 pairs of shoes. "I see kids that I helped when we first opened in the mall that come in with their kids now," Vandepas says. The mall's interior hasn't changed a great deal over the years, the most significant alteration being the fountains added in 1998 at the midpoint of the lower floor. The merchant mix, however, has changed. Only two dozen stores have weathered the years, while some mall slots have had three or four retailers since opening day. "I think, probably more than anything, we've lost some of the personal touch of the area," Vandepas says. "When the large corporations come through, the smaller stores have a hard time. Places like Jackson's men's store can no longer survive in the mall. When that happens, it loses the personal touch with the community." Reach reporter Greg Stiles at 776-4463 or e-mail [email protected] For longtime tenant, the move worked great Fred Phelps wasn't wild about pitching his tent toward Medford's new commercial center in 1986. Evangel Family Book and Bible House, established in 1971, was entrenched on West Main Street. Moving to the new Rogue Valley Mall seemed an iffy proposition. "We thought we'd better go into the mall just to protect ourselves, so that someone else wouldn't go in," says Phelps. "I was hoping we'd match what our downtown store did." It not only matched, but exceeded Evangel's previous output. "It's proved to be a great move. With all of the foot traffic, it's got twice as much volume as any other store. It took away some business from our downtown store, but I think that happened to a lot of downtown people." Indeed, Evangel Family Bookstores' mall location, next to Meier & Frank, has thrived. The Christian book, music and gift store, run by Phelps, 65, along with sons Mark, Alan and Brian, doubled its floor space to 3,000 square feet in August 1995. The store anticipates surpassing previous sales by 10 percent this year. "Downtown, we're a destination; people aren't just wandering around and decide to walk in," Phelps says. "It's a big gift store for us and we get a wider variety of people, because of its attractiveness." Evangel's mailing list has seen explosive growth. "We're down to the point where we can pick and choose customers (on the list)," Phelps says. "We have 27,000 on the list today. If we let it ride and didn't delete after a year (of inactivity), we'd be way into the 30s." The mall's advertised drawing power proved to be on target. "It was exactly what they said it would be - a radius of 115 miles," Phelps recalls. "We had customers from Eugene, because of the curiosity, and a lot of people from Roseburg and the Klamath Basin - they came from all over. The demographics were right on. The first fall, the mall was crowded with people simply wanting to see what was there. Shoppers aren't always buyers and the cost of doing business in a mall is on the high end. "We had traffic like you wouldn't believe, it was incredible, great through Christmas that year," Phelps says. "Then reality set it in January and February. We just sort of live for Christmas season. Particularly in our industry, it's difficult to make a profit until November or December. If you're fortunate, you break even the rest of the year. " "If we didn't have Christmas, we'd have to close our doors." Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.