Mall renovations force store closings.
By: Joseph Harvie and Melissa Hayes
Two longtime merchants in the South Brunswick Square Mall are being forced to close at the end of this month.
Pets, Pets, Pets and The Travel Center will be shutting their doors to make way for a 275,282-square-foot Home Depot that is expected to begin construction soon.
The Home Depot will be taking over and renovating the northwestern wing of the mall, which is forcing the relocation of tenants in the wing.
Don Harrison, a Home Depot spokesman, said the store is scheduled to open Sept. 22, 2005, and construction should start in January, "weather notwithstanding."
"You know New Jersey winters, that’s the timeline," he said.
According to the application on file with the township planning office, 14 storefronts between the vacant Macy’s site and Family Dentistry of South Brunswick will be demolished to make room for the store and additional parking.
The other 12 storefronts were either vacant or the occupants were relocated. Mall management was supposed to try to relocated the stores, but the owner of Pets, Pets, Pets and the Travel Center said management did not make enough of an effort.
"I’m not leaving here because I’ve given up," said Ilene Yelo of Pets, Pets, Pets. "I’m leaving here because I am literally being forced out."
She said W.P. Realty, which owns the mall, told her there would be a storefront open in the mall and she would be able to relocate, but two weeks later she was told there was not available space.
"The landlord told me ‘most likely there will be a spot near the Stop & Shop available’ and right after that about two weeks later, they said ‘there was not as much space as we thought,’" Ms. Yelo said.
She said she received a letter Nov. 3 that she would have to vacate her storefront in the mall by Nov. 30.
Ms. Eichler said she was told by W.P. Realty that she may have an opportunity to move within the mall to a location by Café Calore, an opportunity that was given to the Dollar Store instead of her.
The space was about 960 square feet, which is similar in size to the current location of The Travel Center.
"We assumed through our communication with the people at W.P., they never said there was a location for us, they implied to us that there is an 80 percent chance that we would be relocated to that spot, and they said it would be available," Ms. Eichler said.
She said she was told the space would not be available Oct. 25 and there was no other space for her in the mall. On Nov. 3 she received the same letter as Ms. Yelo telling her she had to vacate her storefront by Nov. 30. She said it does not give her enough time to get the agency’s computers disconnected from the specialized computer system that connects them with the airlines.
Mall management says it did what it could to accommodate the stores.
"Neither one of those tenants have leases anymore and, while we tried to accommodate them in the shopping center and provide them with alternate space, there just aren’t any spaces available and that’s were we are," said mall representative Dan Zelson.
Both merchants, who have been in the mall since 1989, were on month-to-month, rather than long-term leases.
Ms. Yelo said she signed a month-to-month lease with an earlier mall owner with the understanding that she would have the first opportunity to sign a longer deal if someone else expressed interest in the space.
"I am on a month-to-month lease because the first landlord said if I signed a five-year lease and only made it one year I would be responsible for paying the rent for the remainder of the lease," she said. "The rent was ridiculous and they said ‘we’ll put you on a reduced rent and I signed a good-guy lease that said I was only responsible for the time I am here. In my mind, it was a great opportunity. I saved $265,000 in rent by going on the reduced rent."
Instead, Ms. Yelo is holding a going-out-of-business sale, with everything between 25 and 75 percent off, except for dog food and Frontline flea and tick products.
The two said they spoke with Mayor Frank Gambatese about finding a way to stay open through December so they could have more time to find a new location.
Ms. Yelo said she would also like to have more time to sell out of items in her store before she has to relocate.
Mayor Gambatese said he received the women’s letters and just got in touch with W.P. Realty’s attorney on Tuesday.
"I told him the problem and asked him if they could extend until the end of December," he said. "I definitely am on it. I just have to wait for them to get back to me. Their attorney was on vacation last week."
He said he was going to do everything possible to give the two businesses more time to relocate.
"I’m really sorry that these two weren’t relocated," he said. "I feel bad that they’re having to move, especially the travel agency. All those people that work in there and the owners live in South Brunswick. We’re certainly going to try to get them an extension here."
Both women said they were not told about the Home Depot proposal until it was already approved by the Planning Board in May.
"No one ever told us," Ms. Eichler said. "It was rumors, always rumors that it would be a Villagers store. We were never notified that there would be a meeting. To our knowledge no one was told what was going on here."
Mayor Gambatese, who sits on the Planning Board, said he did not believe the store owners were required to be notified about the meetings.
"The only thing we’re required to do is notify the residents that are within 200 feet," he said. "These are store owners, they’re not residents. I think it would have been nice if they notified all of the store owners."
Looking back, Ms. Eichler said she should not have stayed on a month-to-month lease. She said it made it easier for the mall to kick her out.
"We made a mistake," she said. "Nothing ever changed. The rent increased just as it would have if we had a lease."
The two merchants said that they have seen a lot of change at the mall in the last 16 years. They said they have never complained about the changes, always hoping that new stores would create more interest in the mall and bring more business their way.
"We’re been here and watched other businesses close overnight," Ms. Eichler said. "We would leave Friday and come back Monday and a business would be closed. We just wanted to stay. We were original tenants. When we came here Jamesway was here and when Macy’s was being put up, part of our ceiling collapsed so we had to move to a different location temporarily."
"I’ve been through the days of Jamesway and Macy’s and have lived through empty stores," Ms. Yelo said. "I always said, ‘Let’s hope something great will come here, that would be great.’"
Ms. Eichler agreed.
"We wouldn’t have weathered all these years if we didn’t want to stay," she said.