Town Place stores do big business

Recently renovated Shopping Center on Route 27 doing well

By: Paul Koepp
   Store owners in the recently renovated Town Place Shopping Center on Route 27 in Kendall Park say business is booming thanks to its good location.
   The shopping center may see even more traffic as the new Fitness 19 gym adds more members, business owners said. The gym opened about a month ago and already has over 1,000 members, according to manager Brian Peters.
   "Around here, there’s not a whole lot of gyms, especially at our prices. We make it real affordable," Mr. Peters said Monday. "It’s a comfortable place for first-time users."
   Single memberships cost $19 per month, a second family member can join for $12, and each one after that is $9. A typical gym for the Seattle-based company could have 4,000 to 5,000 members, Mr. Peters said. Fitness 19 will hold a grand opening from July 29 to Aug. 4, with giveaways and personalized instruction.
   Tony Li, owner of Pica Pica, a store in the shopping center that sells Japanese and Chinese toys and other goods, said the gym has helped his business during the usually slow summer months.
   "This location is great," said Mr. Li, who has another shop in downtown Manhattan, N.Y., "After the gym opened, it drove in a lot of traffic. Business doubled for me."
   Other storeowners said they were doing well even before the gym opened. Mary Eichler, the manager of the Travel Center travel agency, said business is better than the agency’s previous location in the South Brunswick Square Mall. The agency had to move out after 18 years there in March 2005 to make room for Home Depot.
   "This is a good location because of the high visibility," Ms. Eichler said. "It’s so easy to see us, and the stores here seem to attract a lot of people."
   Shari Karniol, manager of the party supplies store Party Fair, which opened in March, agreed that the location was good, especially with a new housing development just across Route 27.
   "We’re the only party store in the area now," she said. "We get a lot of repeat customers who say they’re glad we’re here."
   Ms. Karniol added that the party store was a "good match" with its neighbor, Glendale Liquors, which is the only original tenant left from the old Kendall Park Shopping Center.
   The 40-year-old shopping center was torn down in April 2004, and the new 86,000-square-foot strip mall was built over the next two years.
   One store that is not benefiting from the gym’s opening is Rockaway Bedding. Despite previous statements that the store would remain open even as the company filed for bankruptcy, the acquisition of Rockaway by mattress company Sleepy’s is leading to the location’s closure, with a liquidation sale now ongoing. Store manager Sergio Parolin said he was not sure if Sleepy’s would reopen the store under its own name.
   "The store was doing fine," Mr. Parolin said. "It’s not because of the location."
   Another business opening soon, Uptown Playaround, will have games and activities for kids’ parties. The other stores in the shopping center include computer repair store Data Doctors, Town Cleaners, Quiznos sub shop, Cold Stone Creamery, Nail Spa, Hair Mania, Hollywood Tans, Li Li’s Chinese Restaurant and a CVS pharmacy.