Chapel Hill Mall in Akron continues to lose tenants, but one of its three anchors may not be empty for long.
Several stores – including Old Navy -- have left the mall since January. The FYE music and video store closes today, and Macy’s closed on Saturday.
Crystal Davis from Akron was at Macy’s on its final day, and sees parallels with the shuttered Rolling Acres Mall.
“I feel for people who have lost their jobs. And I’m hoping – Macy’s itself is strong throughout the country – so maybe they can employ some of these people in other stores.”
Tori Tolson from Stow agrees.
“Once you lose a huge department-satellite store, then everything else kind of rolls down the hill afterward. I think maybe Sears and JC Penney – while they’re nice – they’ve always had a niche. They’ve not been known for clothing.”
The Chapel Hill Macy’s was among the company’s bottom 5 percent, sales-wise.
Along with the closures inside of the mall, the nearby OfficeMax – which is along the Howe Avenue shopping corridor – is closing as well.
Chapel Hill may have a new tenant lined up for the former Macy’s space: Stark State College is considering using the empty store as an Akron satellite campus.
