Retailer Lines Up Four Sites; Eyes Six More

FORT WORTH-With three stores open in the region, the Sherman Oaks, CA-based Shoe Pavilion Inc. has stepped up its plan to boost its market share in North Texas. With 10-year terms as a bargaining chip, four more locations have been secured and another six are in various stages of negotiation.

The increased site selection predominately is ground-up construction for the 99-store firm, headed up by president and CEO Dmitry Beinus. "Now that he's got a brand in the market, he can do a handful of deals in a year and do new construction," Darrell Hernandez, executive vice president and partner for Dallas-based United Commercial Realty/ChainLinks Retail Advisors, tells GlobeSt.com. "It's hard to say what the ultimate build-out will be in the metroplex, but it could easily support 15 to 20 locations."

Within two weeks, doors will open on a 23,500-sf store at the Shops at Northeast Mall, a Loop 820 and Pipeline Road location subleased from Office Max, and a 21,600-sf shop, once Ultimate Electronics' Hulen Mall footprint in Fort Worth. Cynthia Bailey of Windstar Properties in Dallas handled talks for the San Francisco-based Rreef's 4941 Overton Ridge Rd. center.

Hernandez and UCR associate J.D. Robertson also have closed deals for a 20,000-sf store in Arlington Highlands, an under-construction mega-center along Interstate 20 in Arlington, and a 10,000-sf spot in the Shops at Highland Village, a development at the intersection of FM 2499 and 407 in Flower Mound being built by the Jacksonville, FL-based Regency Centers Corp. Hernandez says the Arlington store will open in the fall. The Flower Mound site isn't due to deliver until September 2007. John Mathes of the Retail Connection in Dallas, which is developing Arlington Highlands in a partnership, packaged that deal while Regency had an in-house team working its end.

Hernandez says the six leases now under negotiation are all ground-up. The preferred site is a regional location with other nationals in the lineup, specifically soft goods and apparel retailers. Shoe Pavilion's average lease is roughly 20,000 sf.

Shoe Pavilion opened its first stores in the metroplex in February. The rollout began with a trio of former Ultimate Electronics stores near the Galleria in North Dallas, Frisco and Southlake. "They've been very happy with the sales in Dallas/Fort Worth," Hernandez says.

In early August, Shoe Pavilion reported Q3 openings in Portland, OR, Redwood City, CA, El Paso and Santa Fe, NM. Year-to-date, 12 stores have been opened, three expanded and two closed in its seven-state network, which includes Arizona, Nevada and Washington. The company says another eight to 10 will open in FY 2006.