Southern Hills Mall

Summer will see more than 132,000 square feet of retail space occupied at Southern Hills Malls as three substantial occupants come on board.

Barnes & Noble opened a new chapter in its business empire, when the nation's largest bookseller signed leases for a new store at the mall. The 25,000-square-foot store is scheduled to open at the end of March according to Stacey Nelson, store manager, who has come to Sioux City from the Barnes & Noble in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

"At the beginning of March, we will have about 80 people on board to help stock shelves and set the rest of the store up," she explained. "Once the store opens, there should be about 65 employees on the roster."

In addition to the thousands of books available for purchase, the store will house a Barnes & Noble Cafe which will serve Starbucks coffee.

"It is not a Starbucks coffee shop, though," Nelson qualified. "Starbucks' gift certificates will not be honored, because we only serve the coffee at the cafe; it isn't the franchise."

In addition to the popular Starbucks beverages, the cafe will serve sandwiches, scones and other novelty pastry items. It will also carry Cheesecake Factory cheesecakes, which Nelson terms positively "decadent."

Once customers have filled up on their eating and dining options, they can check out an extensive music department at Barnes & Noble. An interesting aspect of that area is Red Dot Net, Nelson said.

"A customer can listen to any song on a CD for 45 seconds on this service," she said. "It's a nice option that we make available."

Barnes & Noble is located in the Sears wing of the mall, taking up nearly the entire north side of the wing. Nearly 10,000 square feet of the bookstore space was occupied by Bishop's Buffet which closed in 1998. The bookstore is situated directly across from the new 59,000-square-foot Scheels All Sports superstore, which opened in April of last year.

Since Barnes & Noble has its own parking lot entrance in addition to the mall entrance, its hours differ from those of the mall. The retailer will be open Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.

New York-based Barnes & Noble Inc. operates more than 800 Barnes & Noble's bookstores in 49 states and the District of Columbia. The closest stores are in Sioux Falls and Omaha. The company also operates 281 B. Dalton stores, primarily in smaller regional shopping centers. The mall's B. Dalton store closed at the end of the workday Feb. 14. That staff will be working at the Barnes & Noble, said Nelson.

Not long after the Barnes & Noble opening, a new family entertainment center will open in April in Southern Hills Mall and will employ 30-40 full- and part-time people.

Chuck E. Cheese is a kids-friendly chain that serves up pizza and entertainment. The Irving, Texas-based business signed its lease with the mall last December. The corporately owned and operated restaurant will occupy 7,600 square feet of space at the south mall entrance, located across from the Barnes & Noble store.

The majority of the space was occupied by Rex TV & Appliance, which left the mall after it opened a free-standing store on Singing Hills Boulevard. CEC Entertainment Inc. operates a system of 468 Chuck E. Cheese's restaurants in 48 states, of which 420 are owned and operated by the company. Currently, the closest Chuck E. Cheese restaurants are located in Sioux Falls and Omaha.

At the far other end of Southern Hills Mall will be longtime downtown Sioux City business, JCPenney. The retailer will occupy about 100,000 square feet of space, formerly the home of Target, which moved last July into a stand-alone Target Greatland store at the new Sunnybrook Plaza.

JCPenney store manager Alan Carr confirmed in August of last year that the retailer would move to the west wing portion of the mall this summer.

The current store at 607 Fourth St. opened in 1975.

JCPenney now has 120 full- and part-time employees, although the number increases during the holiday shopping season. JCPenney has been a fixture in downtown Sioux City since 1930. The current downtown store covers about 162,000 square feet on two floors; but in actuality, Carr noted, the retail space at the downtown site is similar to the space at the mall.

Lewis and Clark

bicentennial

With the prediction of a possible 25 million tourists, Southern Hills Mall is jumping on the Lewis and Clark bandwagon.

"Sioux City is considered a prime place because we have the Sgt. Floyd Monument here," explained Kristen Walter, marketing manager for the mall. "We are getting more and more national attention and we believe we will garner a lot of tourists because of that."

The most extensive collection of Lewis and Clark murals ever was mounted at Southern Hills Mall last spring. The mall had commissioned the 38 separate paintings from Split Rock Studios, a custom museum exhibit developer in St. Paul.

The murals entitled, "Lewis & Clark, an American Adventure," were installed above Center Court. Two days of celebration followed the unveiling, which included a special presentation by the National Park Service declaring the mall as a National Historic Trail site.

In June of 2003, the Siouxland Tourism Information Center opened an office at the mall. The center is a joint effort by the mall, the Greater Siouxland Hospitality Association, Sioux City and South Sioux City Convention and Tourism Bureaus, Sioux City Museum, Sergeant Floyd Welcome Center and the Siouxland Lewis and Clark Steering Committee. The office is located in the Cafe Court of the mall.

"The center is designed to be full-service by providing both area visitors and local residents with information on attractions and events, as well as lodging and dining establishments," Walter explained.

Volunteers staff the center Monday through Friday from noon to 3 p.m. and from 4 to 7 p.m. and on Saturdays from noon to 7 p.m. The center was made possible by a grant from the Missouri River Historical Development Association and a donation of space from Southern Hills Mall.

In addition, the National Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation announced in November of 2003 that it was awarding its prestigious award for "Meritorious Achievement" to the mall.

The foundation said the Southern Hills Mall received the honor for "its outstanding contribution in bringing to this nation a greater awareness and appreciation of the Lewis and Clark expedition."

The expedition is also a highlight of the Lewis & Clark Kids Fort, a new soft play area that opened last April. The custom play area features a slide and tunnel showing a map of the Louisiana Purchase and the Lewis & Clark Trail, a keelboat and a replica of the compass carried by the Corps of Discovery. Walter estimated the investment of the play area was $150,000.

Other changes

Viewing choices for Sioux City moviegoers were fewer for a few months while the Southern Hills 12 complex continued its stadium-style seating remodeling project.

General manager Brent Monckton explained the Carmike Cinemas corporate office in Columbus, Ga., made the decision to go to the popular stadium seating, then waited until the summer blockbusters were over before proceeding. The remodeled theaters now have large cup holders, bigger seats and lighted stairways.

It was no April Fool's joke when Scheels All Sports store opened for business on April 1.

The new Scheels is located on the south side of the Southern Hills Mall between Sears and the theater complex. The store is more than twice the size of its former Marketplace store at about 70,000 square feet.

Scheels came to Sioux City about 20 years ago when it took over Blackstone's Hardware in the Sunset Plaza, now Marketplace. In 1989, Scheels switched to a sporting goods store.

An "X Shop" is one of the highlights of the new store, offering customers state-of-the-art televisions, projected screens, sound systems, teen clothing and footwear.

The footwear shop was expanded significantly for both athletic footwear and casual footwear. There is a much expanded area for athletic clothing, as well. Also expanded is camping, fishing, exercise and all the bikes for which Scheels is famous.

For the arms aficionado, there is a premium gun area. Guns are displayed in cherry and mahogany cabinets with brass highlights. For the angler, there is an interesting approach to a fishing center where products are displayed in more of a jewelry-counter style. For the outdoorsman, there is a wild game area, where customers can buy venison steaks.

The new facility also sports its own giant white oak tree.

The 52-foot artificial tree is the centerpiece of the Scheels All Sports store. The tree arrived in sections and was assembled over several days. It is supported by a massive steel frame on a nine-foot base. The tree's 50 limbs and 420 branches are wood and painted to resemble the bark of a white oak. The leaves are a green silk material and there are millions of them.

The combination of "new and improved" led to a good holiday season, said Larry Tice, store manager since last May.

"No one aspect of the store seemed to generate an extraordinary amount of sales," said Tice, formerly at the Scheels in Waterloo, Iowa. "It was just a solid Christmas season for us."

Despite what some naysayers would call a "flat economy," Walter preferred the term "somewhat healthy."

"I think we will see an upturn in the economy and the mall needs to position itself for the advent of an economic resurgence," she speculated.

John Mills, president and COO of Aeropostale said the decision to bring the casual sport clothing store to Sioux City's Southern Hills Mall was based on positive criteria.

"We entered the Midwest market a few years ago, expanding in an ever-greater concentric circle from our strength of operation, and Sioux City met all of our criteria," he said. "We were impressed by the customer base and productivity we saw in the area."

Aeropostale, pronounced air-o-pahs-tahl, is a specialty retailer of casual apparel and accessories that targets both young women and young men aged 11 to 20. The history of the name dates back to the 1920s. Compagnie Generale Aeropostale, a pioneer airmail company, was the first ever to fly between South America and France. The first Aeropostale store opened in 1987 and the one at the mall opened in May of 2003.

For those in need of a beverage while mall browsing, Smoothie King will quench that thirst. Located next door to Chick-Fil-A, the enterprise is operated by Sioux Cityan Vince LaCombe and opened in March of last year.

Nutritious energy drinks are the selling point of the Smoothie King franchise. Smoothie King is growing by leaps and bounds and the company attributes its strength and growth to the fact that the drinks are a blend of real fruits, pure juices and nutritional supplements available in more than 40 flavors. The franchise also offers a wide selection of nutritional products such as vitamins, minerals, low-fat snacks and sports nutrition supplements.

"I'm originally from New Orleans, where Smoothie King originated, so I know I'm bringing a good thing to Siouxland," said LaCombe who has lived in Sioux City for the past 11 years.

Southern Hills Mall is located at the corner of Sergeant and Lakeport roads and is the home to about 110 shops and eateries. The mall is owned by and managed by Santa Monica, Calif.-based Macerich Co., a fully-integrated, self-managed and self-administered real estate investment trust, which owns interests in 56 regional malls and 21 community centers.