Preparations for the 104,664-square-foot building to begin in May.
By: Joseph Harvie
Visitors to the South Brunswick Square Mall may have noticed something missing a huge chunk of the building.
That big empty space is where Macy’s used to be, and the section was demolished in March to make way for a Home Depot.
Because of the construction, several businesses have been moved to temporary locations in the mall while construction on their new locations is completed.
Several store owners said the addition of Home Depot would generate more interest and traffic within the shopping center and hopefully give their businesses a boost.
Don Harrison, a spokesperson for Home Depot, has said the store would staff about 150 full-time and part-time employees, but did not say how many of each will be hired.
He said the store will be open to staff sometime in late August, the same time hiring will begin. He said he expects the store to be open to the public by the end of September.
Soil and ground preparations should begin in May and construction should start shortly after, Mr. Harrison said.
According to the application on file in the township planning office, Home Depot is planning to build a 104,664-square-foot building with a 17,833-square-foot garden center. The company demolished 11 of 14 storefronts containing a total of 177,455 feet of space on the south side of the mall between the former Macy’s site and Family Dentistry of South Brunswick to make room for additional parking.
Preparations for the project have meant that at least two businesses have left the mall, and several others have moved within the mall.
Halter’s Cycles has been temporarily moved from its location near the old Macy’s building to the old Bloomingdale’s building.
Jason Fenton, manager of Halter’s, said he will be in the location until the bicycle shop is given a permanent home, left of the Super Stop & Shop. He said the move should happen sometime in mid-May.
Mr. Fenton said he expects the home improvement giant to generate more foot traffic and increase the number of walk-in customers. He said the store sells some bicycles that cost between $7,000 and $8,000, and with new customers he will probably start carrying less expensive bicycles.
"We do a lot of high-end stuff, so we didn’t have to do much if any advertising. People just found us," Mr. Fenton said about his new location. "Our low-end business will probably pick up, so we will move our business that way."
Mr. Fenton said that while they are in their temporary location, next to ATA Black Belt Academy in the old stand-alone Bloomingdale’s building, he wants people to know that the shop can meet the same needs it did before the move.
"We are 100 percent operational," Mr. Fenton said. "It’s been business as usual."
On the other side of the Home Depot are several businesses that also will be on the move, including For Pete’s Sake Hair and Beauty Salon and the Hawaiian Bronze tanning salon. Both will move into Halter’s old location, to the left of the Home Depot.
On Monday, workers were moving and putting gypsum wallboard up in the old Halter’s Cycles location to turn the once single unit into a dual storefront.
The store closest to the construction of the site, The Bagel Basket and Deli Too!, will move to the location closest to Family Dentistry of South Brunswick near the Super Stop & Shop.
Yatin Patel, owner of the deli, said he is excited about the new customers the Home Depot should bring.
"We’re hoping the store will do better," Mr. Patel said. "It will be much better for the community and the township and hopefully everybody involved."
Mr. Patel said his store will be closed while he waits to move into his new location. He said the bagel and deli store will close on April 17 and should reopen in its new location by the end of May.
"I think it will work out," Mr. Patel said. "We’ve been here for six years and we are going to stay here."
Two longtime merchants in the mall, Pets, Pets, Pets and The Travel Center, both of which had been at the mall since 1989, closed their doors in December to make way for the project. According to Pets, Pets, Pets owner Ilene Yelo, and Travel Center owner Mary Eichler, mall management was supposed to relocate the businesses but didn’t.
The Travel Center has moved and is open for business in the newly renovated Kendall Park Shopping Center on Route 27. Pets, Pets, Pets, has moved into its Somerset store location on John F. Kennedy Boulevard.