Bed Bath and Beyond is set to lease a space in the Village Shops of Prescott Gateway Mall. 

 

It will open in early December before the holidays,  according to Michelle Zdanowski, Prescott Gateway Mall’s marketing manager. Bed Bath and Beyond will save quite a bit on building costs as they will be moving into the 30,000 square foot space that housed Linens ‘N Things, she says.

The building has been empty since Linens Holding Co., the parent chain of Linen ‘N Things filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last year, according to the Pittsburgh Business Times. 

A national retailer

“Bed Bath and Beyond recognized the unique opportunity to enter a vibrant and growing economy without going to the expense of building a new facility,” says Jane Bristol, The City of Prescott’s Economic Development Director. 

Steve Norwood, Prescott City Manager says, “The addition of Bed Bath and Beyond to this market is a vote of confidence that economic conditions are on the upswing.”

In fact, this is the biggest retailer to come to Prescott since Lowes opened in November 2007, according to Zdanowski. 

“The addition of Bed Bath and Beyond to this market is a vote of confidence that economic conditions are on the upswing.”

“It will definitely be nice to have a national retailer in our backyard to keep people local and keep them shopping local,” says Norwood.  “It’s filling a void, not only of 30,000 square feet but also for those types of items they carry: home items, housewares, all that.” 

Indoor/Outdoor appeal

Bed Bath and Beyond typically does not go into shopping centers like this. They are usually found in strip malls, according to Zdanowski.

However, Prescott Gateway Mall is fortunate because as well as an indoor mall, they provide an outdoor village as well.

According to her, Prescott Gateway will be able to provide Bed Bath and Beyond with the same type of location that they prefer. 

This will most likely increase traffic to the center and people will travel into the mall. 

Increased consumer traf

The hope of increase traffic is important to a mall that has been suffering with current economic times.

Prescott Gateway Mall has had five businesses close in the last year. “It wasn’t necessarily the situation here in the mall, it was more or less their internal financial situation,” says Zdanowski. 

Mall employees are hopeful that Bed Bath and Beyond will promote business, according to Zdanowski. 

According to one mall employee, there will be more traffic in the store due to name mix ups. “Sometimes customers come in here looking for towels and linens which will bring them in, and we will show them something we have and we will end up making a sale.”

Perhaps the most excited is Maggie Lamper, co-owner of Celtics Crossings Irish Pub. “Business has been pretty bad since Linens ‘N Things left. It is a huge place and if it gets opened up, it will bring a lot more traffic in. When it was Linens-N-Things, we had so much traffic, both shoppers and employees,” says Lamper.

Other businesses don’t really see it as a change. Travis Gunderson, a cell phone salesman at Digitell doesn’t see the benefits for his company. 

“We are already starting to see an increase in sales over last year. We aren’t an impulse buy store. People come to the mall specifically to buy cell phones so adding another store might increase traffic but not necessarily increase traffic into Digitell.”

So what’s next for the Prescott Gateway Mall? Zdanowski says, “A lot of times when large retailers come into a smaller market like this, other retailers like to follow them, so it’s a great thing for our community.”