By Howard Greninger
TERRE HAUTE — A recent announcement that Petco will pull out of a southside shopping plaza is not good news to the lone remaining tenant, Shoe Carnival.
The shopping plaza in the 4200 block of South U.S. 41, next to the Vigo County Fairgrounds, was built and opened in 1999. In the past year, the plaza has seen the closing of Circuit City and Pier 1, as each company suffered financial downturns.
Petco earlier this week said its Terre Haute store would close after Jan. 16.
Mike Smith, vice president of marketing for Shoe Carnival, said being the only store in the plaza reduces foot traffic.
“Any time you have a lack of traffic, it hurts business. It is always better for us to have adjacent tenants,” Smith said Thursday, adding “customers cross shop.”
“Terre Haute has always been a good market for us and our intentions would be to remain in Terre Haute, whether it be there [in the shopping plaza] or somewhere else in the market,” Smith said.
Smith said two different entities own the shopping plaza, with the former Circuit City space, containing about 3.5 acres for the building and parking, owned by New York businessman Samuel Grunkorn.
“It is a little bit unique in that respect, because one owner doesn’t control the future of the shopping center,” Smith said. “If a redevelopment can occur and some favorable co-tenants can be secured, we would enter into a discussion with our current landlord to stay on a long-term basis, otherwise we would seek other alternatives in the market,” Smith said.
Grunkorn said Thursday he thinks Terre Haute is a good retail location. The shopping plaza has been “hit by the hard times that we are in, but retail sales [in Terre Haute] are apparently staying level. I have prospects to fill the space, but of course everyone is extra cautious and is taking extra long,” to make business decisions on store space, he said.
“It is taking longer than it would in better times, but the [shopping] center is in a good location and I have hopes of filling the space,” Grunkorn said.
Grunkorn said because of a slow national economy, “it is unlikely anything dramatic will happen in as soon as six months. I think at some point things are going to pick up,” and retail space will be in higher demand.
Grunkorn said having Shoe Carnival remain is “of mutual benefit to having traffic come into the [shopping] center.”
Howard Greninger can be reached at (812) 231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com
