H&M opening in Mall at University Town Center could be worth dancing for

H&M employees hype the crowd at the grand opening of H&M, Thursday at
the Bellis Fair Mall. MATT MCDONALD — THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/06/12/3695912/hm-opens-at-bellis-fair-mall.html#storylink=cpy

When thinking about the opening day of the Mall at University Town Center, scenarios of people rushing the doors and honking car horns fill my head along with the pomp and circumstance of the ribbon cutting.

And while the mall will have opening festivities, I haven't given any thought about whether any individual stores will have their own grand opening party.

Then I saw this video below from our sister publication The Bellingham (Wash.) Herald of an H&M grand opening. H&M will be one of the 100-plus stores coming to the Mall at UTC, and will be on both levels of the mall.

Check out how the Swedish clothing store pumps up its shoppers at the Bellis Fair Mall when it opened Thursday:

That's quite a crowd for one new store in a 26-year-old mall. It's fun to see how a store with such a following can get people energized to empty empty their wallets while some stores open without a mob.

The Mall at UTC have a grand opening celebration in the works  for Oct. 16  while tickets are being sold for an Oct. 15 exclusive preview. I've reached out to Kim Dominguez, who is the mall's newly hired marketing director to find out whether stores will be allowed to have their own opening party or if everything is going to be rolled into one big party. When she responds I'll add the details here later.

The Bellingham Herald detailed how dedicated people were for showing up:

Claudia Braam, 19, showed up at 4 a.m. and was the first of 400 people in the store when doors opened at noon Thursday, June 12. The first 100 shoppers in line got scratch gift cards worth $10 to $300. Braam's reward: $300.
Braam, who lives in Bellingham, said she loves all the high-quality clothes and cheap prices but was most excited for the summer dresses.

Read more here: http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/06/12/3695002/big-crowd-on-hand-as-hm-store.html#storylink=cpy

I clicked through the Bellingham Herald's photogallery to see the crowd and the reality of 400 people showing up for a single store sunk in. The Mall at UTC will have more than 100 stores, big and small. Some shoppers will be drawn to the excitement of the mall while others will come just for the special deals. To me, the opening is going to be like Black Friday on crack with people nudging their way past one another for something on the shelf.

Let's estimate -- based on the anticipation for the mall and the 400 people who showed up for H&M opening --  the Mall at UTC could have 30,000 people show up the first day for the 100 stores and restaurants.

Car traffic is one thing to be worried about, sure, even though trolleys are planned for the shopping centers. But all the bodies inside that mall?

I'm not sure if there will be room to dance in front of H&M.

Mall at UTC developer making news in Vegas

LAS VEGAS--The developer of the Mall at University Town Center received accolades Sunday for its unique mall in Salt Lake City.

The International Council of Shopping Centers announced that City Creek Center received the ICSC VIVA (Vision, Innovation, Value, Achievement) Best-of-the-Best Award winner in the Sustainable Design/Development category for 2014. The developer of the mall, Taubman Centers of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., is also developing the Mall at UTC in University Park, expected to open Oct. 16.

Recognition for the project was given to: City Creek Reserve, Development Company; The Taubman Center, Owner; Callison, Design Architect; and Hobbs & Black Associates, Inc, Production/ Executive Architect.

The winners were announced during the VIVA Best-of-the-Best Awards ceremony during RECon, ICSC’s global retail real estate convention in Las Vegas. The VIVA Best-of-the-Best Awards honor and recognize the most outstanding examples of shopping center design and development, sustainability, marketing, and community service worldwide.

The two-story mall, which opened in 2012, features a retractable roof plus 500 condos/apartments and four levels of underground parking in a downtown setting and was developed in partnership with the Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-day Saints.

“City Creek is an outstanding example of visionary architectural achievement in sustainability and innovative design,” said Michael P. Kercheval, president and CEO, ICSC. “As the industry continues its positive momentum, we will begin to see further developments in the U.S., and City Creek has set the bar for what that development will look like,” said Kercheval.

The City Creek marked the first indoor mall (kind of) to open in the U.S. since 2006 and Taubman will open the first truly indoor mall this year with Mall at UTC since 2006 as well when the Mall at Turtle Creek opened in Arkansas.

It will be worth watching to see if Taubman's Mall at UTC could win the company another award next year. The Mall at UTC's ceiling is essentially a spine featuring louvered glass and blue/purple lights that will shine into the sky while a glass elevator and open feel will give the University Park mall a cosmopolitan feel.

City Creek is a LEED certified center with streetscapes, public areas and green space, which the Mall at UTC is striving to do with its design.

Mall at University Town Center Dillard’s to be first opening in years

LAS VEGAS--When Dillard’s opens inside the Mall at University Town Center this fall, it will mark the first store opening in years for the Arkansas department store.

The University Park location and one planned in Las Vegas will be the only Dillard’s to open this year, and in several years, according to a retail and restaurant expansion guide by Cassidy Turley. 

The 180,000-square-foot department store will join Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue as anchors in the Taubman Centers-managed mall Oct. 16. The Las Vegas Dillard's will open the same month.

The company closed six locations in 2013, according to the report, as the Little Rock, Ark., company reevaluates smaller, under-performing stores. Dillard's closed a 64,000-square-foot store, a 90,000-square-foot store and a 195,000-square-foot store last year, according to the company's annual report.

Dillard’s left the DeSoto Square mall 2009 and it’s uncertain if the Sarasota location at the Westfield Southgate Mall will shutter in favor of the newer store. For comparison, the Southgate Dillard's is about 97,000 square feet. A Hudson's Furniture store will be replacing the DeSoto Square Dillard's this summer.

The company saw a 2 percent increase in store sales during the first quarter, marking the 15^th consecutive quarter of increased sales, CEO William Dillard II stated in the company’s earnings statement.

Sales were strongest during the first quarter for men’s apparel and accessories while home and furniture sales lagged, according to the earnings report.

Bradenton's Champs nears construction of Mall at UTC store

Champs Sports will open a concept store with this layout
at the new Mall at University Town Center. (Provided Photo)

Bradenton-based Champs Sports is getting closer to starting construction for its concept store at the Mall at University Town Center.

Champs applied for building permits Friday with Sarasota County Planning & Development Services and are still being reviewed.

The Herald first reported Champs' commitment to the 880,000-square-foot mall at Cattlemen Road and University Parkway in March when Scott Burton, director of marketing for Champs said the store would be 5,300 square feet and be one of the newer concept stores:

"It will allow the product to shine more so than you've probably seen at retail stores," Burton said. "This new look for our store is one that started about a year and a half ago, and we've expanded it ever since."
Both the Westfield Countryside Mall in Clearwater and WestShore Plaza in Tampa feature the new concept stores, and it will mark the first such design in the Bradenton-Sarasota market.
The layout is also larger, allowing the store to display more shirts, shorts and plenty of hats catering to high school varsity athletes. Brands will be matched up with their corresponding apparel so the Air Jordan shoes will be across from the Air Jordan shirts to make it feel like there are mini-shops inside, Burton said.

Read more here: http://www.bradenton.com/2014/03/04/5025647/champs-sports-to-open-concept.html#storylink=cpy

Champs is part of the FootLocker family, which is also planning a store in the mall. The mall is expected to open Oct. 16.