March 21, 2004 
The Post-Crescent 

Fox Cities shopping hitting on all cylinders

Statistically speaking, there's a whole lot of shopping going on.

The Fox Cities retail picture has grown exponentially. Retail stores are the No. 1 tourist draw, one of the big employers and an industry that continues to grow despite the sluggish economy.

And with the slow improvement of the national economic picture, it stands to continue its forward motion with more building and more employment.

"The changes you're seeing are positive signs that retailers, both locally and nationally, believe in the economy," said John Burgland, Fox River Mall general manager. "They strongly feel there's new business to be done."

Burgland is at the heart of the retail whirlwind.

The Fox River Mall, which celebrates its 20th anniversary this summer, has led the ringing of registers. The mall and its surrounding outlots account for an estimated $250 million in revenue, Burgland said.

Counting in the surrounding Wal-Mart and assorted other Grand Chute retailers, that amount could easily hit a half billion dollars a year, he said.

In the last year, even with high occupancy, the mall managed to expand its footprint with the $11 million, 135,000-square-foot Scheels All Sports becoming the shopping center's sixth anchor. With that new draw, the mall estimates it now attracts 16 million shoppers a year.

It continued to attract other national names, including Pottery Barn, Aeropostale, Champs, Chico 's and Yankee Candle.

For the area, the fourth-largest population cluster in the state after Milwaukee , Madison and Green Bay , the mall is unusually big.

"It could be the first or second largest mall in the state," said Johnna Van Deurzen, marketing manager for the mall. "We're not sure because we don't know about ( Milwaukee 's) Southridge (Mall). There have been some changes there, so it's hard to compare apples with apples."

Sizing up

What is known is that the Fox River Mall's main building, with six anchors and 180 shops, is 1,039,900 square feet on 137 acres of land.

Its outlots add another 180,000 square feet. They include the "service centers," as they are termed, that house Chuck E Cheese and adjacent stores, and the nearby World Market and its neighbors. Mall property restaurants include Atlanta Bread Company, Baker's Square Restaurant, HomeTown Buffet, Red Lobster and the International House of Pancakes.

Another outlot building to be constructed this spring will include a Starbucks and a Noodles & Co., according to documents in the Grand Chute town hall.

"Unless we purchase more land, we're pretty maxed out," said Burgland, noting that the occupancy hovers at 96 percent.

The mall is unusual, he said, because geographically it is in an ideal spot and has good access from U.S. 41. "We're on the edge of where major retail will go. North of Green Bay , there's not a lot."

As a result, the mall exerts an unusually strong gravitation pull, drawing shoppers from a 200-mile radius.

"In a large city, if you get a 10 mile radius, you're doing well," said Burgland.

Mall as a destination

The mall, in many ways, defines the area.

"It's almost a trademark of the Fox Cities," Van Deurzen said. "A lot of people know Appleton because of the mall."

At the Fox Cities Convention and Visitors Bureau, executive director Lynn Peters doesn't dispute that statement.

"There was a time when we didn't really think of the mall as our No. 1 tourist attraction," Peters said. "We took it for granted. Several years ago, we shifted gears and said if this is our No. 1 draw, we should use it better."

Peters said a survey done for the bureau by Maine-based research firm Davidson-Peterson Associates said shopping accounts for 31 percent of travelers' total expenditures here. In 2002, that shopping total was $102 million.

On the bureau's Web site, foxcities.org, the shopping page is one of the top points of entry, getting 1,500 visits a month.

"The search words 'shopping,' 'Fox River Mall,' and 'shopping Appleton Wisconsin ' are, every month, in the top 10 search strings," Peters said. "It tells us shopping is important to our community and the tourism industry in our community. It tells us its something we should be building on as we market the community as a tourism destination."

"The No. 1 thing people do when the travel is shop in any destination," said Bill Otto, president and chief operating officer of Marcus Hotels and Resorts when speaking to the 2004 Fox Cities Tourism breakfast last month. Having the Fox River Mall, he said, put dollars in the community's pocket during the tough economy.

Overall, the retail industry is one of the top four employer categories in the area, according to statistics from the Department of Workforce Development.

It projects the need for retail workers to continue going forward. In its Fox Valley Regional Occupation Projections for 2010, it puts "retail salesperson" in the top 10 job categories expected to generate the most openings.

Beyond the mall

Downtown Appleton continues to evolve with restaurants, coffeeshops and entertainment venues opening in greater numbers than traditional merchants.

"We've been successful in attracting some national names, like Jimmy John's and Starbucks," said Peter Hensler, director of economic development for the city of Appleton .

"We haven't seen the entry of any national retailer. That's somewhat to do with the character of our downtown now. I don't think it's realistic that we're going to get a new entry into the market on the scale of a Marshall Field's. Downtown is still open for the little guy. There's still room for local people."

Hensler said the focus downtown has shifted dramatically since the 1970s.

"Over the last 30 years, we've evolved into entertainment and office, while retail is probably a tertiary activity. It's not insignificant, but not the lead activity it was when we had Sears, Penney's, Gimbels and H.C. Prange's. That was when we had sidewalk sale days and it was elbow to elbow on the avenue. It looked like Octoberfest. We'll never get back to that level of retail intensity," he said.

"We've changed the tune. But it's not all bad."

Hensler said retail is still flourishing in other parts of Appleton , including E. Calumet Street, E. College Avenue, at the Northland Mall and along the established corridors of Wisconsin , Richmond and S. Oneida streets.

The future

Retail continues to grow on the city fringes, most notably near U.S. 41 and State 441.

On Appleton 's east side, retail construction that started two years ago continues near State 441/KK with development of several strip malls and a Gordmans store opening shortly.

A second Gordmans reclaimed a portion of the former Kmart in Grand Chute, which closed during bankruptcy reorganization in 2003.

In Neenah , a Wal-Mart Supercenter will open next month at the U.S. 41/Winneconne interchange. (See story, Page L-9.)

In 2003, a proposed youth mall began staking its claim on the aging Valley Fair Mall on Appleton 's south side. In its slow forward progress, the mall gained a number of businesses in late 2003.

Most notably, Area 51, a skatepark, set up its ramps and jumps in the former Kohl's grocery store. Next door, Boarderline, a seller of skateboard and snowboard equipment and apparel, relocated from W. College Avenue .

In the mall proper, a small number of retailers moved in late in 2003, reversing the tide from outgoing to incoming.