Clarion Mall Optimistic About Future

| November 20, 2017


CLARION, Pa. (EYT) – Despite the impending exit of one of its anchor stores and other recent store closings, the owner of the Clarion Mall is still positive about the future of it.

“I actually feel very positive about the future of the mall,” Jim Giunta, of Clarion Associates, said. “We were actually surprised to hear about Kmart closing because we understood that they were profitable, but there has been a lot going on with their parent company.”

“We’ve had very positive discussions with some about filling the vacancies.”

Giunta said he is “sorry to see Kmart go, but it does give us a chance to have a more dynamic company come into the mall.”

When asked if those discussions included retail stores, Giunta said he would like to comment, but wouldn’t.

“We have to protect confidentially in these matters,” Giunta said. “Hopefully, we will have some exciting things to share in the future.”

Giunta said he hasn’t ruled out bringing in other types of businesses to the mall, for example, those who want to locate offices there.

“We haven’t ruled out anything at this point,” Giunta said. “We’ll do what the market dictates.”

Kmart announced recently that it would close the Clarion Mall location, meaning only JCPenney and Peebles remain as anchor stores.

The Clarion Mall currently has five empty store spaces.

A total of 45 Kmart stores and 18 Sears stores across the country will close by late January of 2018.

The total number of stores operated by Sears Holding has been reduced dramatically from 3,800 stores in 2006 to 1,250 as of September of 2017.

In Pennsylvania, more than a dozen Kmart stores have closed in the past three years, including stores in Butler, DuBois, and Erie.

The Clarion Mall opened in 1979 by Giunta’s father, Dominic. Kmart opened there shortly thereafter – in 1980.


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