Cary Shopping Center Mall

Before it welcomes Nordstrom and the Container Store this fall, Denver's Cherry Creek Shopping Center will debut about 30,000 square feet of smaller shops, including a handful of Colorado firsts.

Martin + Osa, a rapidly expanding apparel spinoff from American Eagle Outfitters aimed at men and women age 25-40, plans a 6,000-square-foot store at the center, the first in Colorado, said mall general manager Nick LeMasters.

Also new: a high-end Stuart Weitzman shoe store and a Landau faux jewelry store. And Samsonite may have moved its headquarters from Denver, but it's coming back in a smaller way with Samsonite Black Label, its high-end luggage and leather goods concept that's hot in Europe.

Rounding out the new lineup are a 10,000-square-foot previously announced Brooks Bros.

Bringing tourists to town

Long before prospective Stanford students started looking for acceptance letters in the mail, the city of Palo Alto had begun planning ways to woo the class of 2011. Students and their families arriving in town for Admit Weekend, which begins today, are the target of a collaborative effort by the city, the chamber of commerce, the downtown business improvement district and Stanford University. The second phase of "Destination Palo Alto," the joint effort between the city and Stanford to promote area attractions, hopes to lure the expected 800 students and their families to both the downtown and California Avenue areas of the city, as well the Stanford Shopping Center, over the next two nights. "Previously, it was quite evident that Palo Alto has some tremendous visitorship and hospitality resources, but no coordination (of those resources)," City Manager Frank Benest said.

Valley of the malls

As the average Lehigh Valley resident gets wealthier, mall developers are jostling to provide plenty of places to spend that money.

Now, the region finds itself in the midst of what could be called its second golden age of mall-building. Three malls and one major mall expansion are either complete or in line to be built over the next two years, the biggest burst of major retail building since the mid-1970s.

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Westfield Great Northern thrives after expansion

They had different parents and were located two cities apart, but in 2002 they became as close as their shopping mall foundations could bring them. Midway Mall in Elyria and Great Northern Mall in North Olmsted were purchased by Westfield Corp. — one of the world's largest shopping center groups with investment interests in 121 shopping centers in four countries. Signs were lowered and raised. Minor renovations were made. But just as it appeared as though both would move in the same shopping direction, a final sale separated the two shopping giants, and it wasn't the kind of “sale" malls are known for. In 2006, Westfield chose to sell seven properties in several states, and Midway was on the list. Westfield cited strategic growth plans as its reasoning behind the decision. A spokesperson said Midway wasn't in the company's “investment pipeline." Great Northern and SouthPark Mall in Strongsville would remain the only two local shopping centers of Westfield's four Ohio properties.

Drink ban crackdown at city malls

DRINKING bans were today introduced in and around two city shopping centres in an effort to stop customers being harassed by drunks and drug addicts.