BELK REVAMP
Construction is under way at Belk's Bradley Square Mall store and slated for a September finish. The store will remain open throughout the project. The grand reopening will be Oct. 10.
A Belk store in Cleveland, Tenn., is undergoing a $1.5 million upgrade, making it at least the chain's fourth Chattanooga area unit to receive a renovation over the past couple of years.
The work will allow the Bradley Square Mall store to offer expanded merchandise, including new styles of shoes and accessories, according to the Charlotte, N.C.-based department store company.
"We want to satisfy the Southern lifestyle fashion needs of our customers like no one else and continue to deliver the fashion they desire and the value they deserve," store manager Phil Brown said in a news release.
The remodeling of the 60,000-square-foot store is its first since it opened in the early 1990s as a Hess store. The site changed to Proffitt's in 1992 and finally transitioned to Belk in 2005.
According to Belk, the renovated store will feature a modern shopping environment with the latest display fixtures, new tile flooring and carpeting, ceilings and light fixtures as well as updated restrooms and fitting rooms.
Stacia Shahan, the Bradley mall's general manager, said she's glad to see the Belk renovation, along with other work going on at the shopping center.
She said Carmike Cinemas plans to open a 12-screen movie theater this fall. Kmart and JCPenney also are anchor stores at the mall.
Meanwhile, Belk continues to redo its Northgate Mall store in Chattanooga in that store's biggest remake since the late 1990s, according to the company.
That $3.5 million revamp includes adding 7,000 square feet of space for its kids shop near Belk's main entrance, according to store manager Martin Nobles.
At the same time, Belk will shift its 22,000-square-foot home shop from the other end of the Hixson mall to inside the main 113,000-square-foot store.
Although the combination will reduce Belk's footprint at Northgate by more than 10 percent, Nobles said the work will increase "ease of shopability" and be finished by October.
In October 2010, Belk marked a grand reopening of its two Hamilton Place locations, where the company spent $4 million in renovations.
As part of that project, Belk shifted merchandise and consolidated its men's and home goods store to one level. It leased the second floor to specialty fashion retailer Forever 21.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.