Peebles to move from Eden Mall to Kingsway Plaza

The Peebles department store in the Eden Mall will move to Kingsway Plaza in October.

“They wanted to go to a place that was a little more vibrant,” said Mike Dougherty, Eden director of business development. “It’s much better for them to be in a strip center, because that’s how people are shopping.”

Belk is one of the only retail stores remaining in the Eden Mall. The store has its own customer base, Dougherty said. He said Peebles is at the back of the mall and has few retail outlets surrounding it, so it has limited visibility.

Julie Grubbs, Peebles store manager, said the store’s employees are excited about the move, and the customers seem pleased.

“From the community (standpoint), they think it will be better,” said Grubbs. She said many older customers tell her they don’t visit the mall’s side of town because there is little to bring them there. Going to the Kingsway Plaza, in the central part of the city, would be more convenient.

Dougherty said Peebles would attract more customers in the Kingsway Plaza because other businesses, such as the Dollar Tree, have done well there. He is in the process of recruiting two more businesses to the Kingsway Plaza.

Shopping in malls is becoming a thing of the past, Dougherty said. Jim Koffarnus, managing partner for the Eden Mall, agreed.

“I think the days of the big malls with the big retail establishments are on the wane,” Koffarnus said. Mall owners are transforming the shopping spaces to keep the buildings viable. The Eden Mall has a license-plate agency, a day care, a fitness center and recreation area — laser tag and batting cages — where retail stores had been.

“For the most part, it’s a service area,” Dougherty said.

“We call it a business and commerce center, which is a mixed use,” said Koffarnus. He said the service outlets help the retail stores because people in cardiac rehabilitation at Morehead at the Mall might stop at Belk. The idea is to make the mall a “one-stop shopping place,” where customers can see a doctor, pick up a prescription, get a hair cut and shop for clothes.

Koffarnus and Robert Swofford, owner of the business and commerce center at Eden Mall, have plans for medically oriented development in the former Peebles building. Koffarnus said the mall already has an architect working on the preliminary plans.

“We’re poised to move forward and do the medical development property,” said Koffarnus. He said the only thing that would change the mall’s plans is a major retailer showing an interest in moving in the old Peebles’ building, but Koffarnus doesn’t foresee that happening.

“It’s very difficult in our economy to find retailers that want that much space,” he said.

Management thinks the Eden Mall would be a good venue for medical services because of its proximity — 201 E. Meadow Road — to Morehead Memorial Hospital and emergency services, as well as having ample parking for customers and patients, according to a news release from Swofford Inc. Koffarnus and Swofford plan to develop senior-living apartments and an urgent care facility in the former Peebles’ building, which includes about 40,000 square feet. Koffarnus said the space lends itself to senior living, with beauty and barbershops under the same roof and a Food Lion next door.

Koffarnus and Swofford also plan to develop an adult day care in the 3,700 square feet of mall space adjacent to the Morehead Academy Child Development Center. Koffarnus said he would like to see the hospital or a local physician operate the urgent care. The mall has had a long-term relationship with Morehead as tenants. Morehead at the Mall provides chronic disease management, cardiac rehabilitation and health education; it opened a daycare, Morehead Academy Child Development Center, last year.

“It would be kind of a natural for them to come in with urgent care, also. We would love to work with them,” said Koffarnus.

But that isn’t likely.

“Morehead Memorial Hospital recently completed a $36 million expansion and renovation project, which has met our current need for space and services,” said Morehead Memorial Hospital President Robert Enders. “We do not have plans for additional expansion at this time.”

People with questions about the future development of the Eden Mall can call (336) 627-5148 or e-mail edenmallbuscenter@yahoo.com.

• Staff writer Miranda Baines can be reached at mbaines@reidsvillereview.com or 349-4331, ext. 35.