The Sears store in Richland Mall is scheduled to close March 10, but the Dillard’s department store chain announced this week it will move into the almost 157,000-square-foot space Sears is leaving.
Dillard’s, an original anchor with a mall presence since 1980, will continue to operate “from a dual-anchor format” in the mall at Waco Drive at State Highway 6, Dillard’s spokeswoman Julie Johnson Guymon said in an email response to questions. The Dillard’s men’s store will remain open, but the original Dillard’s space, where customers find jewelry, fragrances, housewares and women’s clothes, will relocate to the Sears spot, Guymon said.
The future of the space Dillard’s is leaving remains uncertain.
Though confirming the move, Guymon said the Arkansas-based retailer is not prepared to discuss a timetable for the transition or its long-term plans for the Sears space spread over two floors linked by an escalator. An attached Sears auto center has closed, and shoppers at the store Thursday encountered signs promising discounts of up to 70 percent and notice that all sales are final.
Announcements for assistance with customers seeking deals on fixtures and shelving sounded as frequently as those for price checks on merchandise.
Sears, which filed for bankruptcy in October, included Waco in a list of store closings announced days after Christmas. Sears locations in Abilene, Amarillo, Killeen, Plano, Port Arthur and Richardson also were targeted in that round.
Dillard’s, meanwhile, acquired title to the sprawling Sears space in July. Sears agreed to anchor Richland Mall when it still had the clout to demand ownership rights, Waco real estate agent Bland Cromwell said. Dillard’s decision should prove beneficial to the mall, almost immediately filling space that otherwise might languish on the market, Cromwell said.
“Dillard’s is well-liked in Waco, one of our nicer spots,” he said. “To expand in this market, I think, is a smart move.”
Cromwell is a longtime commercial agent who assisted in assembling tracts the mall occupies.
“We were working on that deal at a time when Sears was on the tip of everyone’s tongue,” he said.
Dillard’s expressed interest two or three years ago in relocating to a freestanding building and occupying 90,000 square feet over two floors, he said
Steve Valdez, who manages the JC Penney store in Richland Mall, said he is intrigued by the moves playing out there. He said the Dillard’s decision will serve the mall well in the long run, as Sears’ 157,000-square-foot monster moves off the market, leaving Dillard’s much smaller space available.
“I wonder now who will go into the Dillard’s place,” Valdez said.
— WACOTRIB