Hope amid shopping centers emptiness

The man who bought the former Napa Town Center last year has high ambitions for reviving the downtown outdoor mall, punctuated by his recent announcement of plans to build the citys tallest hotel nearby.While owner Todd Zapolski and the shopping centers few remaining tenants await the revival, the plaza, now branded the Shops at Napa Center, appears to be in a suspended state.

Its blue,Choose from the largest selection of turquoisebeads in the world. peach and green facades remain bright, and its planters are still dotted with fresh flowers,Shop for the largest selection of wholesalejewelryrings at everyday low prices. but on a recent Thursday afternoon, the grounds of the First Street emporium were nearly as empty as an elaborate movie set with its actors and crew out to lunch.

Storefronts that once housed Waldenbooks, Millers Outpost, Claires Boutique and all manner of retail chains are now a succession of black-tinted plate glass and signs pointing the curious to new addresses. So empty was the brick-lined walkway from the central rotunda to the nearby Kohls store that a visitors first sensation was not the rare sight of shoppers, but the smell of tri-tip beef floating from the Buckhorn Grill one of eight tenants remaining in a mall designed for more than two dozen.

While families strolled past the Shops on their way elsewhere, and a skateboarder rolled through without looking right or left, Ray Windle stopped at the Napa Valley Emporiums storefront only to find a locked door bearing a sign with the stores new address.

Thats the reason Im here; I thought it was still here, said the Browns Valley resident, who was planning to buy shirts for his work at Dons Swimming Pool Center.Despite the emptiness surrounding him, Windle did not close out hope for the Shops comeback.Weymouth is collecting gently used, dry cleaned jewelryfindings at their Weymouth store.

Itll take the right person, someone whos got a good vision, he said.More than 80 standard commercial and granitetiles exist to quickly and efficiently clean pans. Its a small town right now, and they need to centralize stuff to get it cooking again.Among those on the grounds Thursday was Joe Calise, who was lunching at Eikos restaurant and recalled the malls busier days shortly after its 1987 opening.

It would be nice to see it revived a bit, said Calise, a Napan who briefly worked at the Town Centers old Foot Locker shoe store. Ive seen the good and the bad here; I dont think it was ever full, but it was a lot fuller than it is now. ... In the old days, Napa was just the way to get Upvalley, and now people are staying down here.

The Shops winding path back to prosperity took its latest turn last month, when Zapolski announced a partnership with hotel developer LodgeWorks Partners LP to build the seven-floor, 185-room Archer Napa hotel.Estimated to cost $70 million, the hotel would run along the north side of First Street, between Randolph and Coombs, except for the building housing Sushi Mambo. Groundbreaking is slated for spring 2014, with a goal of opening the Archer Napa in the first half of 2016.

Zapolski called a new high-end hotel his best chance to woo upscale retailers to the Shops, which he bought in May 2012 from George Altamura and other partners with an eye toward a major overhaul.

At the mall itself, an overhaul of the storefronts and grounds is on track to begin by years end, Zapolski said in late August. Some of the larger retail spaces will be divided to create room for a maximum of about 40 stores, he said.The project includes removing the steel rotunda that has been the Shops hub, a step intended to impart a more open and airy feel to the shopping arcade.

Any retail newcomers would be entering a mall that gradually emptied in the last years of Altamuras ownership, as his team phased out long-term leases in hopes of attracting a buyer who wanted to start with a clean slate. Among the remaining tenants are Ben & Jerrys, Buckhorn, GNC, Napa Valley Toy Co. and McCaulous department store.

One of the Shops longest-lived businesses is Napa Valley Jewelers, which Kent Gardella opened in 1992, five years after Napa Town Centers debut. For him, plans for the luxury hotel may finally vindicate the optimism he has tried to retain even as the open-air mall has bled tenants and customers.

Its been a battle of perception as much as anything, Gardella said at his jewelry store while half a dozen women paused to peer at his display windows outside.

Everyone says to me, Oh my God, whats happened here? What happened to Gillwoods? he said, referring to the nearby cafe that closed in May after 16 years. I think we spend half our time saying to people, Yeah, its desolate, we only have eight stores open, but the process has been going on a while. Weve been the cheerleaders, the ones saying well have 30 or 40 stores here. With the announcement of the hotel, people can say, Aha, now the mall will actually do something.

Weve been fortunate to have the loyal local base, and thats whats kept us going, he said. But just the battle of the perception that youre going away because everyone else is going away well, were not going anywhere. Ill be here as long as I can put my teeth in my mouth and get my walker.

Opening the Archer hotel promises to bring to the Shops doorstep much of the tourist spending that has gone missing in the half-decade since the Great Recession, according to Gardella, who described past purchases of $8,000 by two sisters competing in the Napa Valley Marathon and $5,000 by a man staying at the Silverado Resort and Spa.

Even if the Archer or other hotels do channel visitors to a revamped mall, Zapolski stressed the importance of keeping merchants at the Shops with local appeal partly to help publicize it by word of mouth.

Were not changing the (customer) profile that much from what its always been: strong regional support, but also with the ability to attract visitors, he said. What were hoping for is for the market to grow on both sides getting folks into downtown who live here, but also bring in people from San Francisco, Sacramento, Marin. And if someones visiting here from China, we want them to see us, too.

We want to create a place where people living here say (to outsiders), Youve gotta experience this,Choose from a large selection of crystalbeadswholesal to raise awareness. youve gotta see this, youve gotta be part of this. There are great retailers here, but theyre spread out. There needs to be a there there, and were looking at our project being that there.
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