Coastal Grand mall beginning its second decade with a number of changes

Women’s clothier New York & Company is leaving Coastal Grand mall, one of a number of changes at the 1.3 million-square-foot shopping center that celebrated its 10th birthday last year.

The changes will include stores throughout the mall doing some redecorating, store relocations and other closings.

At least one of the other closings, Kirkland’s, is, like that at New York & Company, associated with a new 20,000-square-foot store that clothier H+M will move into later this year

Aeropostale and Wet Seal, two of the stores that haven’t renewed leases at the mall, are having financial struggles and are closing stores nationwide, according to Bloomberg News. Delia’s, another clothier that will leave Coastal Grand, has declared bankruptcy.

The mall’s Hallmark shop is closing, and Gemini Boutique closed at the end of last year. Dairy Queen also has left the mall, said Steve McGhee, Coastal Grand’s general manager.

Kay’s Jewelers will keep its spot at the curved corner in the central court as H+M moves into space on both sides and behind it.

Other stores in the cluster of space H+M will occupy -- Justice, Foot Locker, Mrs. Fields and Cache -- will move to new locations to make room for the store, which McGhee said is a major new tenant that he estimates will open its new Coastal Grand store around the first of October.

David Young, district manager for New York & Company, said it will close its Coastal Grand store on Jan. 24, but will remain in the Tanger Outlet at U.S. 17 and S.C. 22.

He said the company has no plans at this time to open another location along the Grand Strand.

McGhee said Kirkland’s announced its closing after its space was leased to Foot Locker in the relocations associated with the major tenant.

Justice, Cache and Mrs. Fields, also dislocated in the H+M deal, will be moving, respectively, to the space formerly occupied by Gemini Boutique, to a vacant space next to it and to the former Dairy Queen location.

“It’s like a puzzle,” McGhee said of rearranging tenants to accommodate the new major tenant.

The updating at each store may not be as noticeable to shoppers but are a required part of tenants’ leases to keep the mall fresh for customers.

Kay’s Jewelers, McGhee said, relocated its entrance, retiled an area and added a big screen TV in its display window. Vitamin World changed its wood-grained storefront to black paint.

“There’s many things they can do,” he said of the required redecorating.

McGhee said the mall is negotiating with new stores to fill all the space that will be vacated by Aeropostale, Wet Seal and Delia’s, so the mall could reach 100 percent occupancy this year. The mall has run at 95 percent to 98 percent full, he said, above the mall industry average of 93 percent occupancy.

He wouldn’t give the names of the new stores that may move into the mall, but he said they will have names shoppers will recognize.

For those who feel the mall is in decline, McGhee said Coastal Grand in 2014 had its best year since 2008.

Contact STEVE JONES at 444-1765 or on Twitter @TSN_SteveJones.

This story was originally published January 9, 2015 at 2:21 PM with the headline "Coastal Grand mall beginning its second decade with a number of changes."