By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – Local merchants will measure a lot of their year's success by the strength of the current holiday shopping season. But merchants at one area shopping mall are looking beyond immediate sales to the promise of many glorious shopping seasons to come.
There's excitement stirring -- all through the house -- at the Eastern Hills Mall in Clarence.
You can read the story below and click the "listen" icon above to hear Joyce Kryszak's report.
Even in its hey day, the Eastern Hills Mall had a hard time looking festive this time of year. It's cold, sparse design, with pink confetti carpeting, might have conjured up a bit of a Florida feel. But warm it was not.
The mall's new owner, Mountain Development Corporation of New Jersey, is changing all that.
"We're still waiting to bring in the two gigantic fireplaces and the plasma T.V.s that are going to go above it," said Sheinbaum. "But I doubt there is a cozier food court anywhere in the United States.
MDC Marketing Director Lee Sheinbaum describes some of the cozy transformations at the thirty-year old mall.
The company took over this summer, but already millions have been spent renovating the neglected, former premier mall space.
Rich ceramic tile and dark wood columns with art glass lighting sconces are surrounded by lush green plants and wall treatments, bringing new warmth to the mall's former drab food court.
Sheinbaum said they're excited about the chance to welcome shoppers back home.
"We were so thrilled with the opportunity to take what was once the number one mall in Western New York and make it, if not perhaps the largest, perhaps the most desirable mall to come to, and make everyone feel like this is their home away from home," said Sheinbaum.
Merchants here say it's working. Donald Curran owns Teds Hot Dog and Ice Cream store.
"Foot traffic is definitely up. And from all the people we deal with from the different stores, the employees that come in from Bon Ton and Sears, Kauffman's and Penney's, all the main anchors, I have heard all their employees say their sales seem to be up," said Curran. "I was in Bon Ton myself shopping last night and waited in line for twenty- minutes."
Curran has been a mall tenant since 1987. He's hung in through good times and bad. The worst times came after Walden Galleria opened, casting a huge foreboding shadow. Then came years of neglectful owners.
Curran said before Mountain Development came in he was ready to close up shop.
"This past April I was in Phoenix looking for a house, getting ready to put this up for sale. My wife and I, in fact, brought plans back from Phoenix," said Curran.
"But when I found out Mountain Development was coming in here and we did a little quick online research to try to follow Mountain Development and find out what they were all about," said Curran. "[We] talked with some retailers up there in one of their malls in Springfield, Massachusetts and these folks up there had nothing but good things to say about them."
A manager at one of the mall's crucial anchor stores also had nothing but good things to say. Beth Hand says Bon Ton is reaping the benefits of MDC's investment in the mall's future.
"We're very excited to see that the mall has put a lot of thought and effort into trying to make the mall a great place to shop, and the effort is really paying off," said Hand.
But to keep cash registers ringing, MDC's Lee Sheinbaum said MDC knows there is still much to do.
New floor and wall treatments are planned throughout - all with the same warm, sophisticated look designed to attract shoppers.
Sheinbaum said that new look and other capital enticements will also used to help draw new merchants.
The mall is about twenty-five percent vacant. But there are hopeful signs.
Vinny's Sports Grill, a full-service restaurant opened this fall. And Sheinbaum said they are negotiating now with some retailers he described as more "probable than possible."
Still, he says it will take about two to three years, and upwards of fifteen million dollars, for the mall to reach its near potential.
But Sheinbaum called it a no risk investment.
"It's a lot easier to take a property that's been neglected for ten years and turn it around, than to go head to head with a property where there was a great deal of focus and investment and couldn't compete effectively. Here it was just a question of neglect," said Sheinbaum.
"We have a formula that works and we're willing to invest in it."
Part of that formula includes a committment to the community, as well as ongoing, special promotions. There's often free food or gifts and other perks for frequent shoppers. Right now, shoppers are being offered valet parking during limited hours for a small fee - or no fee at all if they spend enough while visiting the mall.
It has captured the imagination of some old customers - and even some new ones.
"It's pretty and actually I'm surprised to see that it's got a lot of life in it, because I heard there wasn't a lot out here...I would come back. I would," said a first time Eastern Hills Mall shopper.
And for those who have fond memories of the Eastern Hill mall wishing wells - fear not.
They will be incorporated into the new mall design, but with all those copper pennies and silver coins now going to support the Women and Children's Hospital of Buffalo, during the Christmas season - and year round.