Some mall tenants seeking rent reductions - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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A handful of mall stores closed afterf Christmas and a few others are seeking lowedlease rates, mall managers said. Perhapws more ominously, mall executives know that more national chains and some localk tenants will close some or all of theid stores in the coming months as a result of theeconomicv downturn. Stores suffered a soft holiday season and national retailersz are facing pressure on their finances that will causee some closings and limiy openings atnew locations. “We’re vulnerable to retailersz closing a chain or closing a number of their saidChris Jaeger, general manager of Bayshord Town Center in Glendale.
Bayshore and its corporate parent, of Columbus, are working with individual tenants “to get them throughh a rough patch,” Jaeger said. No storesa have said they are closing as of this but what about one monthfrom now? “I don’ty know,” Jaeger said. “It’s day to day. It’as an unknown.” Retailers are clearlyy takinga wait-and-see approach to eithe maintaining existing stores or opening new ones, mall managers and retaipl experts said. Southridge Mall in Greendale lostLinens ’j Things and Steve & Barry’s to bankruptcu in 2008, effectively vacating the southu end of the mall.
Southridge owner of Indianapolis was discussinyg the space with prospective tenants earlieerin 2008, but those talkes ended when the recession took hold, said villagew president John Hermes. “Nobody knows what they’rs going to do in the next two Hermes said. A spokesman for Simon Property Group declineds to comment because the company was in a quief period beforethe Jan. 30 releasd of its quarterly financial results. A KB Toys store at Southridgwe is closing and the mall also has a which is a chain thatis downsizing. Other nationaol chains that are closing stores includeFamous Footwear, Lane Bryant, Ann Taylor Talbots and Old Navy.
None of those chains have announcexd closings inmetropolitan Milwaukee. The , New York said 6,913 stores closed in which was more than any other year since it startexd tracking closingsin 2001. The council predictws thousands more stores will closethis year. The leasinb picture for malls will worsenhthis year, said Dave Brennan, co-directo of the at the in St. Minn. Brennan said vacancy rates will increas e significantly and shopping centers will have to take lower rents and probablt some temporary and nontraditional tenants tofill “I think we’ll see storw closings after February when a lot of leasea expire,” Brennan said.
Mayfair Mall general managerd Steve Smith said a few tenants have soughtg rent reductions but he has yet tograntt any. Months before the holidays, the Wauwatosa mall lost its Sharper Imaged and Whitehall Jewelers storesto bankruptcy. Two more Mayfaidr stores closedafter Christmas: the Lang Store and Club Libby Lu, whichb was a girls’ party Mayfair has already signed a replacement tenanyt for the Whitehall Jewelers space: Swarovski, a crystakl store that’s opening in Smith said some retailers still want to get into Mayfair, whichg has the metropolitan area’s most enviable collectionj of stores.
Mayfair and its owner, of Chicago, are takinhg the opportunity to select new tenants that provide thebest long-termk merchandising and branding profils for the mall, Smith said. Still, Smitu said retailers are being more cautiouasbefore expanding. “Retailers are clearly more selective withwhere they’rwe going,” he said. “They don’t want to take any chances.”