Shop of horrors

Worcester can't help but think the Common Outlets is in serious financial trouble. What's everyone complaining about? No crowds means better shopping. But for how long?

by Chris Kanaracus

It's still there after six years: the robot voice, "Welcome to Worcester Common Outlets. You have entered via the Media Play entrance from the yellow garage . . ."

On this damp morning, the voice is getting a workout. Mall workers, small groups of truants, and senior citizens wander in for a day of shopping. Or have they? The Waterlily Cafe does a brisk business; but next door, Samantha's Card and Gift is dead. As are Media Play, Panda Luggage, DKNY, even CVS. In the main wing, several patrons sprawl out on benches near Factory Brand Shoes. Among what has to be 20,000 pairs of loafers, pumps, and sandals stands a single employee, her hand on her chin, pen in mouth, staring at . . . no one.

Two high-school-aged youths, sitting nearby, are staring straight ahead, too. One clutches a boom box that cranks out the menacing sounds of KMFDM or Nine Inch Nails or Rammstein -- it's hard to tell, due to the echo. The music is loud. Too loud. But no one complains.

Abruptly, from around the corner, a smiling custodian appears, riding along on a machine, a carpet Zamboni. Around and around the escalator shaft he goes. One more loop, and he's off, down the East hallway, where more carpet awaits. The kids gaze at his trail with sullen eyes.

On this morning, the mall looks less like a bustling center of commerce, than a butcher shop after a botulism scare.

It's a perception that's been noticed and discussed across the city. From snarky Telegram & Gazette columns to local talk-radio (one recent week, mall talk dominated nearly every installment of Jordan Levy's WTAG show) to coffee shops, bus stops, and kitchen tables, the word is out -- 100 Front Street is on its last legs.

Or is it? The voices for the defense are just as strident. "There's been far too much armchair speculation about this," says Michelle Rothstein, public-relations vice-president of Chelsea GCA, the monstrous, New Jersey-based retail trust hired by CIGNA Investments in October to take over the Common Outlets' management.

"We wouldn't be here if we didn't think this mall could work. I know I'll see the day when [the Outlets] won't be referred to in headlines as an `ailing mall'."

The stuff retail dreams are made of

Worcester Common Outlets' potential is what prompted city residents to welcome it in the first place. There was much fanfare, after all, when the 1994, $50 million overhaul of the former Worcester Center Galleria was completed and Worcester Common Fashion Outlets ("Fashion" has since been stripped from its name) opened. At the time, the concept (around here, at least) was a bit revolutionary: use an urban center -- not an adorable seacoast town -- to peddle upscale clothing and housewares at bargain-slash-"outlet" prices.

But so eager were city officials to squeeze life out of the once-proud Galleria, they took a chance, granting a $13 million tax-increment-financing plan (TIF) to co-owners New England Development (NED) and CIGNA Realty Trust. In exchange for the 20-year tax break, the owners agreed to add an additional 100,000 square feet of retail space by 1999.

And business boomed. But by 1998, stores, such as Guess, Andrew Marcus, and Boston Traders, among others, had closed. Sales fell one percent from the previous year, while other area malls gained as much as six percent. Rumblings that the upscale stores didn't jibe with Worcester's "Spag mentality" grew louder -- soon answered when a "dollar store" claimed a vacant spot on the second level.

By February 1999, leasing solicitations sent out by the mall's owners wooed potential tenants with the promise of low rents, stating "all types of businesses" would be considered.

Then, NED/CIGNA failed to meet the July 1999 expansion deadline outlined in the TIF. City officials backed off a $69,000 penalty, hoping negotiations between NED and Peabody Hotel Group of Natick would lead to a hotel located on the site. Those negotiations, however, fell through.

The death knell was audible when, in October 1999, NED/CIGNA sold several properties to the massive Simon Realty. The Outlets were not among the offerings, though Greendale and Solomon Pond malls were.

Another blow to the Outlets' image was delivered the next month, when mall anchor Filene's Basement announced it would close after the holiday season. Several have followed suit, including Miltons. Mikasa just announced it's going out of business there.

Today, the Outlets consists of 75 stores, down from about 100 at the time of the 1994 opening -- it's a far cry from the mall's first days, when prospective tenants were turned away for lack of space. As such, any plans for retail expansion are off the radar. And the whispers of doom have never been louder.

All we do is talk, talk

Perhaps that's why the mall's notoriously tight-lipped ownership seems willing to let others help quell the speculation. Along with Chelsea, the heavy-duty, Connecticut-based Sierra Communications has been hired to handle publicity and marketing.

Already in the works are an informational Web site, new signage, improved parking-garage lighting, and minor cosmetic changes.

It's safe to say that this last effort is the most sorely needed, though the mall has always been immaculate. What was a colorful and appealing color scheme in 1994 has devolved into tacky, Vegas-lite chic; the large neon globes in the food court being a favorite wry-comment target.

Perhaps most important (and surprising, given NED's track record), city agencies have been invited to join the fight. Chelsea has asked the Worcester Business Development Corporation (WBDC) to determine what sort of tenants would best fill the plentiful, vacant storefronts.

And along with city marketing director Susan Black, Chelsea has planned an extensive and ambitious series of public events there. Coming soon are a tie-in promotion with the Worcester Medical Center's "soft opening" on March 26 and the Bridal and Prom Expo on April 8. In May, the mall will run a weekly live-music series in the courtyard near Foothills Theatre.

But the questions that need answers (what new stores? how many? and when?) linger.

So far, three new stores have been announced: Bon Worth, a women's-clothing store; Ultra Diamond and Gold Outlet; and, inexplicably, Samsonite, which will bring the mall's luggage-store count to three.

Store management says it's close to filling the gaping hole left by Filene's Basement, but Chelsea spokesperson Rothstein declined to specify which store could move in. Facts and figures pertaining to the mall's performance remain elusive as well; though management isn't required to release such data, you can't help but think those numbers would be easier to come by if they bore good news. In 1998, for example, manager Anthony Kalinowski boasted to the T&G that at $229 per square retail foot, the Outlets were above the median for similar malls.

And then there's what many observers say is the biggest problem: parking. "People just don't like to pay for parking when they go to the mall," says one mall employee. Currently, the 4000-space garage charges 99 cents for two-and-a-half hours of parking, a figure that many say is still too high.

All I wanted was a quiet job

The Outlets' ailing health is of such concern that politicians even saw fit to make stump speeches during last fall's election. City Councilor Dennis Irish, for one, made the mall a legislative priority once he joined the council in January. "They've been much more forthcoming than in the past," Irish says. "And they need the opportunity to make it work."

Irish, who sits on the council's commerce and economic development committee, says he expects Chelsea to present specifics concerning the mall's future at the subcommittee's next meeting in April. Spinoff from the Medical Center's opening, sales, and revenue trends could be among the topics explored.

"I know they've been talking about opening [the mall] up a little . . . it's just so fortress-like in nature. They've pledged to be more open about the parking problem, and a few other things," Irish says, who's not about to join in on the "ailing mall" chatter. "All this talk about the mall is just that. Talk. I don't think people are trying to purposely mislead anybody, but I also don't think they're right."

There are at least a few people that echo the sentiment. The mall, in fact, is doing fine, they maintain. And who would better know than the folks who work there.

"If the mall is in fact going to close down, this is the first I've heard of it," says a manager (who declined to be named) at one of the mall's busiest stores, his expression an endearing mixture of shock, bewilderment, and concern. "We've been doing great for as long as I've been here." Indeed. It's just before noon on a Thursday, but the phone is ringing off the hook, and customers file in and out continuously.

John Lacouture, who works at the Sunglass Hut, agrees: "I've only been here a few weeks, but we've been really busy . . . way over estimate. I'm surprised, because everyone told me this would be a nice, quiet job."

Two workers (who also declined to be named) at a women's-clothing store are even more eager to assert that business is good. "We're not going anywhere. We just resigned our lease. We all do well here. I know I'm right," says the store's manager, with a pointed stare and matter-of-fact tone. But take a look around, and you've got to suppress a chuckle. The 1500-square-foot store is customer-free.

"You need to come down here on a weekend. We were mobbed over last weekend, what with bus tours and all that," says the manager with authority.

"I know, huh? Why is everyone so quick to write off this place, anyway?" says the other employee with hands on her hips. "All these articles about how bad the mall's doing, on the radio, blah blah blah."

Those entreaties aside, its easy to see why the mall's the butt of jokes. This place is empty. In one of the two luggage stores, a worker sits behind the counter; he's definitely dazed, maybe asleep. At Geoffrey Beane, a saleswoman has little to do besides fiddle with the creases on a pair of olive-colored slacks. Media Play, on the other hand, has plenty of browsers, but cash registers remain idle.

Some observers, though, aren't impressed by the evidence. "I don't know how many malls are ever busy during the week," says Susan Black. She does have a point; weekends at the Outlets, though not what they were six years ago, are much busier.

And as Kathleen Brewer-Duran, a Babson College retail-marketing professor, points out, "The typical outlet-mall customer comes to the mall with the intent of spending a lot of money. That type of spending habit could account for what seems to be less foot traffic." Indeed, figures from the International Council of Shopping Centers, a New York-based retail association, indicate that outlet shoppers spend an average of $185 per visit.

That's not a surprising figure, especially when you jump in the car. Wrentham Village Outlets, located near the Rhode Island border, is slamming one Tuesday afternoon. Sure, the parking lot is only half-full, but it must span 15 acres.

Wrentham is also owned by NED/CIGNA, but, despite similar stores, it's as different from the Common Outlets as can be imagined. No massive, windowless concrete walls here; Wrentham's 125-plus stores line tree-and-shrub-lined pedestrian avenues. Colorful, clearly marked maps guide the way, and the single-story structures cut a wince-inducing winter's breeze down to a bearable minimum.

It's easy to see why Wrentham is such a success. It's located barely a block off I-495, an easy drive from both Providence and Boston. Parking is free. And the stores? The cream of the crop.

The same could be said for the Worcester Outlets when it opened in 1994. Exclusive retailers like Mikasa and DKNY, it was anticipated, would draw swarms of shoppers from beyond the Worcester area.

And that's exactly what happened. "When I was first here, this place was like sardines," says one mall employee.

On weekends, the cobblestone boulevard outside the main entrance would teem with tour buses containing über-shoppers from around the country, and even beyond. Local media all but drooled over the facility's redesign: even the mall's carpet warranted a glowing, front-page T&G profile.

The honeymoon didn't last too long, however, no doubt thanks to the opening of both Wrentham Village, in late 1997, and the massive, upscale Solomon Pond Mall in Berlin in mid-1996, both of which sport the many of the same stores as the Outlets do.

Wrentham Village, especially, cut into the coveted Boston-Providence customer pool.

Surviving in Spag Country

What can be done? Well, the mall has had nearly as many would-be saviors as it has doomsayers -- some more realistic than others.

A suggestion to turn the Outlets into a casino came from more than one source, including 1999 mayoral candidate Richard Fox.

Local architect Daniel Benoit, a former City Hall employee, came up with the most ambitious proposal yet, a bittersweet plan to demolish a section of the building to connect Front Street to Worcester Center Boulevard and Union Station. NED/CIGNA has yet to act on the proposal.

Mall employees have their own opinions as well. "They really need to get some more affordable stores in here," says one electronics-store manager. "Tommy [Hilfiger], Nautica, those places are just too expensive. I shop at Van Heusen [a men's casual store]. I mean, it's supposed to be an outlet mall, you know, with discounted prices."

"All they need to do is get a Wal-Mart in here, and this place will be fine," says a Dress Barn employee.

And that's the plan, sort of. Wal-Mart, or anything like it, has yet to sign on with the Outlets. But, for sure, Chelsea GCA won't be looking to well-heeled out-of-towners for business anymore. "We're looking to focus on the type of market this mall should serve," says Chelsea's Rothstein, referring to folks who live within a 30-mile radius of the city.

As we all know, the Worcester-area market is one that traditionally, even proudly, centers on value: this is Spag Country.

And there are signs that the flight of retail to the suburbs could be waning. In August, the massive, way-upscale Providence Place Mall opened to smashing success. "Urban retail already died," says Babson's Brewer-Duran. "But it's on its way back."

Good signs notwithstanding, the Outlets could handle more traffic. One mall employee stands behind the counter, stares out his storefront windows watching the few lonely folks who walk by. He hopes aloud that help will soon arrive.

"I certainly don't want this mall to close," he says quietly, almost to the air. Then his gaze shifts to a visitor: "I mean, this is my job."