MASON CITY – The Fred Meyer jewelry store in Southbridge Mall is closing.
Peter Engel, president of Fred Meyer Jewelers, sent a letter to local customers alerting them that the store will be closed effective March 10th. Engel invited Mason City customers to visit the Fred Meyer store in Southpark Mall in Moline, Illinois.
Southbridge Mall management confirmed the store closing this morning, saying the store should be fully cleaned out by March 13th.
A call to Kroger Company, the parent company of Fred Meyer, was directed to media relations and a message was left with Keith Dailey, Director of Media Relations asking why the store would be closed. No immediate answer was returned.
A call to another Fred Meyer store was made, and an employee was asked why the Mason City store was closing.
“Sometimes the lease prices in the malls go up and it just becomes too costly,” the employee said.
Southbridge Mall could not give a reason why the store was leaving, nor could they immediately say how long the store had been in Southbridge Mall. A call to Southbridge Mall’s leasing company using a phone number Southbridge provided resulted in a dead end call.
Kroger is doing well, offering its shareholders increased dividends since 2006. According to its website, in September of 2012, the company’s board of directors raised the quarterly dividend by approximately 30 percent, to 15¢ per share. Since reinstating dividends in 2006, Kroger has increased the dividend each year and expects to continue to do so.
so the $3000 engagement ring and lifetime service up keep & repair that was bought and given to me is supposed to be taken where??? and just for the record my fiancé was never sent a letter of notice…
Yay another business leaving town!
I heard today that New Beginnings Consignment Shoppe on north federal is closing too. They said business hasn’t been the same since the street scape project.
common sense says any business has to turn at least a bit of profit every month. If their costs outweighed their expenses it may not be becuase of the mall or Mason City. Could be poor marketing and advertising, or simply not being competitve enough in price and quality. There is a lot of competition out there for the “gem” dollar. Is the mall doing well?…from what i see probably not, but i dont have access to their financials, so its not always the malls fault or Mason City government, the hotel, or the state of the city…Sometimes its a poorly run business, and if you run a business poorly you go bye bye.
Maybe Mercy will buy it for more office space……
EVER TRY BUYING FROM FRED MEYER I HAVE, SNOBBY UNWILLING TO HELP STAND AND TALK TO YOU COWORKER AND NOT EVEN REALIZE A CUSTOMER IS IN THE STORE THIS WAS AT LEAST 4 TIMES THATS WHY IVE PURCHASED OVER A 100 ITEMS FROM RIDDLES OVER THE 10 OR SO YRS
Mr. Marquardt – Could you run a short article on what it costs for a business to be in the mall? If possible, could it cover rent, and approximate utilities? Would not need insurance costs, empoloyee costs, just the basics.
Thank you.
Stock market at record high !!! 2013/1929
Some people will use anything for a pot shot at MC. If you never go to the Mall how would you know if it’s busy or not? We don’t know why they closed. Maybe they want to set up shop on line or elsewhere or for personal reasons. Less overhead. It’s the wave of the future. Life must reeally suck for some people considering the neg. attitude.
Turn out the lights, the partys over. Dead, Dead, Dead, oh and lets raise all taxes so we can make up for those who were smart enough to get out early.
Lets see if the city council will ask the state gaming commission if we can turn the mall into a casino, at least then it woulf get used. It is on a river front, maybe a creek. MUSIC MAN CASINO AND FRANK WRIGHT HOTEL. It would bring in millions.
The mall will fall and so may City Hall !!!!
All in all, it’s just another brick in the mall