2-col x 5": The renovated Mall in Columbia will feature a two-level Nordstrom department store and a number of additional smaller stores as well as a new parking deck.

Mall To Get Major Facelift

It's Official: Nordstrom Here by the Year 2000

by John Rogers

The Rouse Company's announcement that Nordstrom will open a store at The Mall in Columbia signals the company's intention to reclaim the Mall's position as one of the most innovative and dominant in the state.

Nordstrom, the Seattle-based department store chain famous for its fashion apparel and service, will build a 170,000-square-foot two level store at the Mall. The Mall's fourth anchor store is expected to open by fall 1999 or spring 2000 at the latest.

"This is an executed agreement," said Rouse Company senior vice president Jerome D. Smalley. "As solid as can be."

It will be located to the northeast of Hecht's and connected to the Mall by an additional leg of smaller stores. "Nordstrom's addition gives us the opportunity to add 50,000 to 75,000 square feet of retail space," said Smalley. He estimated that that would break out into somewhere between 10 and 15 additional stores.

At the same time The Rouse Company also announced that the 25-year-old mall will undergo an extensive renovation.

When completed, the Mall will sport new lighting, flooring, restrooms, restaurants, escalators, elevators and a refurbished food court.

The new Nordstrom store will be slightly larger than JCPenney's (165,000 square feet) and smaller than Hecht's (214,000 square feet when the third level now under construction is completed).

Smalley said the decision by Nordstrom to come to Columbia was "a natural outgrowth of the negotiations we have been having with the company all along."

Nordstrom has 83 stores in 17 states. The Columbia store will be the fourth in Maryland.

The company was founded in 1901 by John W. Nordstrom. It is considered the premier fashion apparel department store chain in America today, noted for style, selection and service.

Negotiations to land Nordstrom for Columbia have been in progress for years.

"We have worked for a long time with The Rouse Company to make this project come to life," said Marty Wikstrom, vice president and general manager of Nordstrom's capital region.

Smalley said the deal was aided by other previous agreements with Nordstrom to build stores at Rouse malls in Cleveland and Atlanta. Nordstrom already operates a store at The Rouse Company's mall in Salem, Oregon.

Smalley said The Mall in Columbia, built in 1971 and expanded to 938,000 square feet in 1981, has experienced continued strong sales and growth despite increasing competition by new retailing centers in nearby areas.

But The Mall in Columbia has had neither the glitzy look of newer centers nor the strong centerpiece anchor store needed to draw customers from a larger regional base -- until now.

"We expect the addition of Nordstrom to lift The Mall in Columbia to the first tier among retailing centers in Maryland," said Smalley.

Shoppers crowding the mall for bargains before and after Christmas cheered the news.

"Nordstrom is exactly what we need," said one woman, two large shopping bags in tow. "But I'm afraid when it happens I'll spend all my time here."

"All our research indicates that Nordstrom is the ideal retailer for this area," said Rouse Company president and CEO Anthony W. Deering. "The addition of Nordstrom to our existing line-up of department stores and shops [will give] The Mall in Columbia the broadest range offering of retail choices anywhere in the region."

If past performance and demographics are keys, the fit should be a good one.

Woodward & Lothrop, an upscale retail department store chain that occupied the space now filled by JCPenney until two years ago, consistently reported strong sales from its Columbia store, which ranked among the chain's top five performers.

The population of Columbia and surrounding Howard County ranks among the nation's highest in family income at just under $70,000.

In recent years, new retailing centers in east Columbia and north just off Route 29 have focused attention on the Columbia-Howard County area as an emerging retailing powerhouse.

Jeffrey G. Sneddon, who manages The Mall in Columbia, not surprisingly called the addition of Nordstrom a good fit.

"All of us ...welcome this announcement ... The new Nordstrom plus the renovation program will position the Mall for an exciting 21st century," he said.