Story by James Turner, Staff Writer
Photos by Brock Kirk/The News
Kentucky Oaks Mall in Paducah, Kentucky may receive a new, national retailer in the old Sears building.
Elder Beerman and New York & Company are slated to close soon, raising concerns over the stability of the Kentucky Oaks Mall.
Joe Bell, spokesperson for Kentucky Oaks Mall, said although stores come and go, people shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
“Although (several stores closing) alarms consumers, we’ve been at this a long time,” Bell said. “And we know that there are other retailers and other concepts up and coming all the time.”
Bell said a new national retailer may be coming that could set up where Sears once was. He said that they were close to announcing the name, but couldn’t, pending paperwork.
“They’re still ironing out the details,” Bell said. “Until they sign it, I can’t mention the particular name of that particular store, but I think it’s going to be very popular for people in the area.”
Kentucky Oaks Mall isn’t just one building though. Although people tend to think the enclosed mall is the extent of the mall property, Bell said this isn’t the case. He said all of the outlier stores, including the new Five Guys, Jimmy Johns, QDOBA and a standalone Starbucks, are also part of the mall complex.
“Those are deals we brought to the table…” Bell said.
Karly Hardin, senior from Paducah, shops at the mall once or twice a month. She said her and her friends comment frequently how the mall is losing stores. From her perspective, losing a store like Elder Beerman was a sign that the mall was in rough shape. However, Hardin had a couple ideas for the mall to consider in the future.
“Well I have always said Target. We want a Target,” Hardin said.
Hardin also said that a store like Macy’s could help fill in some of the gaps left by closing stores.
Hardin wasn’t the only one to notice a downward trend in the mall. Daniel Dodd and his wife Gabrielle run a restaurant called Branch Out in an area of Paducah known as Midtown. Daniel is a former manager at a second Gamestop that used to be in the mall near the current one. He worked at the Gamestop in the mall for approximately nine years between 2001 and 2012.
“I think I went in there maybe two times this last year, and it seemed a lot slower than the last time I was in the mall working,” Daniel said. “I know as time went on, even up until 2010 to 2012… It seemed to go a lot slower as years went on.”
Daniel said that the current climate of the economy is probably to blame for the slower mall traffic.
“I think the mall is a destination,” he said. “It had everything you needed under one roof. That’s now the internet.”
Daniel said that strip centers are also more convenient. People can simply go to the store, get what they want and leave. He said there’s still people that shop in that manner, to a lesser degree.
“People are looking for something different…” Daniel said. “They’re looking for something you can’t get online or something that’s special.”