If you have some back-to-school or early Christmas shopping to do, you might try swinging by CherryVale Mall.
Several new stores recently have opened in and outside of the shopping center, boosting CherryVale’s occupancy rate to a healthy 86%, well above the 78% occupancy it experienced in 2020 — the year of the pandemic — and its normal occupancy rate of 82%.
According to General Manager Justin Shea, more and more local businesses are choosing the mall to be their home.
He said: “I think that the community is getting into entrepreneurship more.” “They just walk in. We talk about opportunities and come to an agreement. “We help with their marketing using our social platforms and website.”
More:CherryVale Mall’s new stores are all the same.
‘Come and eat here’
Among the new businesses is the much-anticipated El Vallarta Sports Bar & Grill.
Recently, the restaurant in the District of CherryVale’s former Granite City space held its grand-opening.
The family-owned upscale bar and restaurant serves seafood in a Nayarit style Mexican cuisine, as well as sushi, pasta, and live entertainment.
Tollo Cruz, El Vallarta’s co-owner, spoke through Liz Cruz Rebollar, who translated for him, and said that he opened his business in the mall due to its high foot traffic, as well as Six Flags Hurricane Harbor being nearby.
He said, “You can come back here and eat and drink afterwards.”
Everyone deserves a chair
Honeycomb owner Jenna Scott saw the Rockford area Mall as a way to better serve a community that is underserved.
Honeycomb is located in JCPenney’s wing and offers a variety of textured hair services, such as braiding, extensions. cuts, colors, nails, and more.
“I specialize in servicing inter-racial family with different hair textures,” she said. She added that not all the salons she worked at in her 13 years of experience as a licensed professional hairstylist, placed the same emphasis on their clients.
“The treatment that I received there from the clients is what made me start my own hair salon,” she explained. “I had the impression that they didn’t try to work with certain hair types.
“It’s terrible to be a customer and see everyone looking so good and then you walk in and they tell you, before you have even gotten into the chair: ‘Oh. We don’t work with that type of hair.”
Scott said Honeycomb was a warm and welcoming experience, where everyone can find a seat.
Now operating under one roof
Rockford T-Shirt Company, a long-standing business in the mall, has recently expanded.
It is a one stop shop for all your printing needs. This is a well-known business, with familiar employees operating in a larger and newer location in old Jos. A. Bank space across from Barnes & Noble in the District at CherryVale.
Don Sylvester, the store owner, said that Rockford T-Shirt Company was a family-owned conglomerate of businesses, including Crazy Brush, Crazy Teez and Rockford T-Shirt Company. These businesses operated in different locations within the mall, and Rockford T-Shirt Company operated on 28th Avenue.
Sylvester stated, “We are all now operating under the same roof.”
Rockford T-Shirt Company has a graphics department that can handle many jobs, including screen printing, embroidery, direct-to-garment, and heat transfer vinyl (HTV), which is a polyurethane-based adhesive and special polyurethane used to apply designs on fabrics and materials such as T-shirts.
Sylvester explained that “we can handle larger orders for screen-printing, but we are still able to do the simple ‘I need 3 birthday shirts this weekend’.”
CherryVale Mall has also recently opened:
- Aladdin’s Jewelry, which offers a selection of color memory pendants, 10k & 14K gold, and 925 sterling silver, plus jewelry repair services.
- The Arch Booth also offers facial waxing, eyelash tinting, eyebrow threading and tinting.
- Father & Son Jewelers is located in the upper-level center court area of the mall.
- Little People’s Closet, which sells children’s apparel, opened this month on the lower level next to the children’s play area.
- Max Custom Tailor provides custom tailoring and alterations in addition to hand-tailored men’s suits, sportscoats, vests, shirts, and pants.
- Next Level is a retailer of urban clothing, shoes, and accessories.
Chris Green, 815-987-1241 or [email protected] @chrisfgreen