Byline: Meredith Derby
LAS VEGAS -- Consumers soon will be able to browse a wide selection of their favorite catalog and Internet brands -- and in a mall setting, not at home.
Epicenter Holdings Inc., an affiliate of Gordon Group Holdings LLC, recently revealed a new shopping center concept designed to reuse vacant mall anchor locations, bringing together catalog- and Internet-based retailers in a showcase format. The concept, called Epicenter Collection, is expected to bow in a 180,000-square-foot anchor spot at the Glimcher Realty Trust-owned Polaris Fashion Place in Columbus, Ohio, in 2006.
Epicenter Collection is expected to house 70 branded apparel, accessories, home and beauty catalog and Internet retailers and is eyeing prospective companies such as Red Envelope, L.L. Bean, Dooney & Bourke and Hold Everything, executives said at the International Council of Shopping Centers spring convention here last month.
"We're offering [catalog and Internet retailers] an opportunity to come in and build a store, build a presentation showroom, for what would be less than $100 a square foot, with a short-term commitment of a three-year lease," explained Ray Carew, Epicenter's executive vice-president of business development. He said Epicenter also is "talking to existing retailers that may not have stores within that mall and may not want to invest when it costs $500 a square foot to put a store in, and then sign a 10-year lease."
Epicenter Collection will center around a racetrack design within the typical two-level anchor store site. Showrooms designed to the retailer's specifications off the racetrack design will focus on visual displays, where customers can touch and purchase merchandise. The showcases range from 600 square feet to 6,000 square feet, with the average size being around 1,500 square feet, Carew said. Kiosks of 100 square feet are also available.
"As retail designers, one of the things we see happening a lot is the huge number of brands that want to experiment with a storefront now -- and they're very well-known brands in retail -- but they're just currently not in the mall," said Jay Valgora, design principal of the WalkerGroup/CNI, the company that will help tenants design store showcases.
No specific retailers have been signed to the Epicenter concept. Carew said however, that "the reaction has been very positive," and an Epicenter spokeswoman said the company is "in final negotiations with a few retailers." Around 100 Epicenters are expected to eventually open in the U.S. and abroad.
Caption(s): A rendering of Epicenter project
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