7 DEC 08: ONE MALL. THAT'S ALL.
Long-time readers know I have a rule at this time of year: only go to the mall if it's an absolute emergency. Usually there isn't one. I have plenty of sweaters on reserve for this December cold wave....
But what if shoppers didn't have a mall to visit? Rumors along those lines apparently have been going around Columbus for weeks. It finally led to a couple of e-mails our way:
Please excuse if you have already covered this-
Is it true- or is it just a rumor?
Will Peachtree Mall close after Jan 14, 2009?
Have stores been notified that the mall is closing and filing for bankruptcy? If a bankruptcy does occur, will the stores be forced to leave/close or will the bankruptcy allow for it to change hands and allow the stores to stay in the mall?....
you might check Charlotte Russe
Is this possible? Could bankruptcy next door at Bill Heard Chevrolet spread like a cancer down the street?
This didn't seem like a big enough emergency for me to visit Peachtree Mall, so I made some phone calls Friday instead. Besides, a single guy like me walking into a women's clothing store like Charlotte Russe wouldn't feel quite right -- and who picks up a date, simply to research a blog rumor?
"I've heard the rumors," said a young woman named Ashley who answered the phone at Charlotte Russe. But after asking around, she admitted no one specifically had been told Peachtree Mall was closing. So maybe this was really a Charlotte RUSE....
But before I called that store, I had called the Peachtree Mall management office. "Heavens, no!" exclaimed a woman who answered the phone when I mentioned the rumor -- but she then admitted she'd heard the claim as well. She must not have made an attempt to turn the rumor around, by shopping at all the stores.
The woman transferred me to the man in charge of Peachtree Mall. General Manager Chris McCoy told your blog it will remain open for years to come. OK, that's nice - but did someone ever make that statement about Columbus Square Mall?
Chris McCoy agreed with me, when I said the bankruptcy speculation actually surrounds Peachtree Mall's corporate owner. General Growth Properties has a billion dollars in debt, and Friday's New York Times reported it has hired bankruptcy lawyers. Hopefully they bought their suits at Dillard's or Penney's....
A spokesman for General Growth Properties the New York Times plans to sell four malls in the western U.S. But he says its malls "will continue to operate" no matter what happens. Otherwise, Peachtree Mall's stores could move everything outside to the parking lot - and compete with the Lee County Flea Market.
Chris McCoy told me Peachtree Mall's year-end sales are "going very well," beginning with a good Thanksgiving Friday. I should have asked him about the injury crash which reportedly occurred outside Dillard's around 4:10 a.m. on that Friday. Was the line of cars THAT long to get to the 4:00 opening of Penney's?
There's one big "anchor store" at Peachtree Mall which currently is vacant. I asked Chris McCoy about the status of the old Parisian store, but he didn't know anything beyond the fact that Dillard's owns it. C'mon, Mr. Dillard - cut a low-priced deal, and let high-priced Neiman-Marcus come in.
Chris McCoy wanted me to spread the good news about Peachtree Mall. So there you have it -- but I still have this funny feeling the calendar shop won't be around after February....
E-MAIL UPDATE: While the rumors swirl around Auburn University football, a reader noted something we mentioned Friday....
"The Auburn side of the story was spelled out at a midday news conference by Athletics Director Jay Jacobs. I had to double-check that title after seeing it on TV -- and yes, he's "Athletics" Director with an S. Perhaps he added the extra letter because he's not really that athletic."
People from the UK would assume Jacobs was the track coach.
Yes, they might indeed reach that conclusion. Of course, the British also would wonder where Tuberville's team received permission to pick up the "football" and run with it.
Saturday night's news added a new name to the replacement list for Tommy Tuberville: University of Buffalo coach Turner Gill. His team upset Ball State to win the Mid-American Conference title - so I guess this makes Gill "MAC Daddy" of the year.
But here's the thing about Turner Gill - he's African-American. Are football fans in Alabama ready for such a major college football coach? Or will some of them point to Sylvester Croom, and sound like latter-day Adolf Hitlers?
And what could O.J. Simpson possibly have to do with Columbus? This e-mail surprised us....
Richard,
Reference the news coverage of the OJ Simpson sentencing: In articles on the web and in various newspapers throughout the US and overseas is a photo of an Elvis impersonator watching the sentencing in the overflow room at the Las Vegas Courthouse. This Elvis Tribute Artist happens to be from the Columbus area (a graduate of Smiths Station High School and Auburn University). As a matter of fact he is a former DJ on a Columbus radio station and also formerly worked at WTVM and did his college internship at WTVM.
I'm familiar with Michael Jordan, from his visits to businesses to croon for women celebrating birthdays. I even saw him with his family one night, eating dinner at Stevie B's Pizza. If he stood up to perform after-dinner entertainment, I left before it happened.
Michael Jordan told a Las Vegas newspaper he considers O.J. Simpson arrogant, and Friday's sentencing ended "13 years of waiting for justice." OK - but why travel there from Columbus to see it in person? In an Elvis Presley outfit, of all things? Did Jordan need to hurry away from the hearing, to be an emergency fill-in at a casino stage show?
We need to make follow-up calls on three other items e-mailed to us, so please be patient for a couple of days. In the meantime, let's check other weekend headlines:
+ A Columbus Police car went out of control on Illges Road, smashing into a telephone pole and three parked cars. This is why you haven't seen any crime reenactments from "Crimestoppers" in several years....
+ Rivertown Church confirmed it has dropped its weekly Saturday evening service. When I worshiped there, the top Saturday attendance might have been 50. Now I'm attending with a different group, which also has about 50 people per week - and the people there somehow think everything's fine.
+ Dunkin Donuts announced in an ad its store on Manchester Expressway will close for two months of renovations. The work apparently will begin after the new location opens downtown. But down the expressway, another shop already may be calling it a Golden Goldmine.
+ Carver High School's bid for back-to-back football titles ended, with a 41-12 crushing by Cairo in the semifinals. Is that why the lights were at McClung Memorial Stadium Saturday afternoon? Was Coach Dell McGee working the Tigers through more fundamentals?
(If that's not bad enough, someone broke into the Carver band room during the game and stole all sorts of items. Police say MP3's, cell phones and textbooks were taken - and it's sad to think about which one of those three won't have any street value.)
+ Alabama lost the Southeastern Conference championship game to Florida, 31-20. I went to a Phenix City fast food restaurant for dinner during the third quarter, and heard a worker describe business there as "a ghost town" until the game ended. Hopefully he enjoyed closing shop early for the night....
+ Troy University won the Sun Belt Conference football title by ambushing Arkansas State 35-9. This league should work like professional wrestling, with the champion receiving a title Sun-Belt.
(Troy will play in the New Orleans Bowl in two weeks, against Southern Mississippi. The Troy radio announcers emphasized it's "important" to buy tickets through the university. Don't trust those guys standing on the street corners in the French Quarter - because you might wind up with Saints tickets.)
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