Shop Talk: Don't believe everything you see on site plan

YAKIMA, Wash. -- Yakima Valley shoppers want more retail. On the Shop Talk blog, posts about new stores coming to the Valley usually garner the most comments.

And readers are eager to share rumors they hear about stores that might be heading this way.

Last week, one Shop Talk reader, with great excitement, let me know about a site plan for the Valley Mall posted last week on the Web site of CenterCal Properties, the Portland-area company that owns the mall.

Looking at the site plan, it's easy to see why local shoppers would be excited.

Best Buy was named as a tenant for the vacant Linens 'N Things space. Several stores, including Chico's and Coldwater Creek, were mentioned for vacant spots once filled by Corral West Ranchwear and Rex TV & Appliance.

While my first instinct was to post this site plan on the Shop Talk blog, I've learned over time that a mention on a site plan document does not set a project in stone.

In January 2008, Union Gap city officials received a site plan from a developer that named outdoor sporting goods store Cabela's as the tenant for the former Costco store in Union Gap. Cabela's officials remained mum.

And no wonder. Just a month later, Cabela's announced it would be scaling back its expansion plans. The Costco property is still vacant.

Turns out my instincts were right.

Fred Bruning, president of CenterCal, told me last week that the document was a working one and was inaccurate at this point. (And CenterCal has since taken the site plan off the Web site.)

But the site plan did allow Bruning to provide some tidbits of interest:

About Best Buy ...

Bruning said CenterCal was close to getting a deal with the Minneapolis-area electronics store chain, but the deal went cold at the last minute.

Instead, another kitchen store chain will go in its place. He wouldn't provide a name, but said he expects a building permit application to show up in Union Gap's planning department in the next 30 days.

"It's better to bring a new tenant to a (local) market than to make a vacancy for someone else," he said.

He's referring to Best Buy's current location at 2321 S. First St. in Yakima. There has been plenty of chatter about the possibility that Best Buy might relocate to the Valley Mall Plaza from its current location.

What about Gottschalks?

The site plan mentioned Dick's Sporting Goods as a tenant for the vacant Gottschalks space.

That was noteworthy, because most people (including myself) believed the space was locked up by Forever 21, a clothing store chain that won a bankruptcy auction to take over the leases of the now-defunct Gottschalks, including one at the Valley Mall.

Turns out that Forever 21 decided to not go through with the deal. A bankruptcy judge ultimately terminated the lease.

With Forever 21 no longer holding the lease, CenterCal could contact other prospective tenants for the space.

Bruning mentioned a sporting goods store was one of the tenants in the running. At this point, however, CenterCal is working to get a letter of intent from a department store.

Forever 21 did talk to CenterCal about the possibility of opening elsewhere in the mall, but those discussions have been quiet for the last few weeks, Bruning said.

Store announcements coming

Expect new store announcements for both the Valley Mall and the Valley Mall Plaza to come just in time for the holidays. Bruning said it seem retailers were not doing much as they struggled through the national recession, and he used that as an explanation for the lack of activity at the local level.

"We went through the worse retail recession in 40 years in the last 18 months," he said.

But now some retailers seem ready to expand again, he said. He says he has a few potential apparel and restaurant tenants for spaces vacated by Rex TV & Appliance and Corral West Ranchwear.

A new concept

One potential tenant for the mall is a restaurant concept from Matthew Silverman, who is known in culinary circles for being the youngest person named as an executive chef at restaurants run by food personality Wolfgang Puck.

"It's something different from the Olive Gardens and Red Robins in the area," Bruning said.

Seem far fetched? Turns out that Bruning worked with Silverman earlier this year to open three restaurants at Blackhawk Plaza, another CenterCal property in Danville, Calif.

Some interesting developments, eh? But if you learn anything in today's Reporter's Notebook, it's that the retail world can change quite quickly. I'll keep you updated.

Can't get enough of the Reporter's Notebook? Head to the Shop Talk blog (www.yakimaherald.com/shoptalk), Twitter page (www.twitter.com/shoptalkexpress) and Facebook page (www.facebook.com/pages/YHR-Shop-Talk/54463033365).

Until next week, happy shopping.

* Mai Hoang's Reporter's Notebook is published Mondays in the Your Money section. To reach her, call 509-577-7685 or e-mail mhoang@yakimaherald.com.