Two stores preparing to close at Peachtree Mall in Columbus

Peachtree Mall is losing at least two of its clothing stores, with women’s apparel retailers LOFT and Sienna & Bellini preparing to close their doors within days. However, a mall representative said Friday that the center will be adding two tenants, Love Culture and La Biotique, soon.

LOFT, which has been inside the 3131 Manchester Expressway shopping center for years, will make its final sale to customers on Saturday. The store’s hours are typically 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Some shoppers may recognize LOFT by its former name — Ann Taylor Loft. The retailer, founded in the mid-1950s, is now Ann Inc. and owned by New Jersey-based Ascena Retail Group, a company that also operates the Maurices, Justice, Lane Bryant and Catherines brands.

An employee with LOFT at Peachtree Mall said the store has been receiving plenty of feedback from longtime customers as the end approaches. Some of them have been very angry because they had not been told of the closure via advertising or otherwise, she said. A sign at the store’s entrance reads: “We’ll miss you Peachtree Mall.”

“All of the clients are sad to see the store close, because they don’t know where to go,” she said. “They don’t want to shop in the boutiques. This is their go-to store and they can order stuff. They love the one-on-one, and we’re not a big box store.”

With the LOFT closure, Columbus-area customers wanting to frequent the brand will have to travel to Auburn Mall in Auburn, Ala., or Ashley Park, a strip shopping center in Newnan, Ga.

Sienna & Bellini, meanwhile, has only been in Peachtree Mall since last August. Its final day will be Jan. 31. The Atlanta-based chain sells a variety of women’s apparel.

Another mall retailer, Vi Vi Boutique, also is relocating from the Macy’s side of the center to near JCPenney, just outside the doors of Dillard’s.

Edward “Ted” Newkirk, interim general manager of Peachtree Mall following the recent departure of previous manager Onassis Burress, said Friday in an email that the center also has added a tenant called i Doctor and has two others on the way — Love Culture and La Biotique. He did not mention LOFT and Sienna & Bellini by name, but said such exits are to be expected from time to time.

“As with any shopping center, we have experienced a handful of stores at Peachtree Mall which have recently closed due to natural attrition,” Newkirk said. “We are constantly pursuing the best retailers to complement our strong collection of national, regional and local merchants at Peachtree Mall.”

The flurry of activity comes with Peachtree Mall preparing to welcome its fourth anchor, At Home, which will be opening its 86,000-square-foot superstore Feb. 2 in the front-and-center portion of the center. It is going in space formerly home to a Parisian department store. The space had been vacant for years until Dillard’s sold it to Chicago-based General Growth Properties, owner of Peachtree Mall, in December 2015.

“We are ... thrilled At Home will be opening their Peachtree Mall location,” Newkirk said in his email. “We believe At Home will provide Coumbus area residents with an amazing shopping experience and will further solidify Peachtree Mall as the area’s shopping destination of choice.”

It is not uncommon for retailers to consolidate their operations at the beginning of each new year in order to restructure themselves physically and financially, and the news isn’t always bad. The Macy’s store at Peachtree Mall learned earlier this month that it wasn’t among 68 locations being eliminated by its Cincinnati-based parent company in order to compete better in both the brick-and-mortar and online worlds.

There has been major consolidation news locally, however, with Illinois-based Sears Holdings making the decision to close the Sears department store at Columbus Park Crossing, as well as the Kmart discount stores on Macon Road in Columbus and U.S. Highway 280 in Phenix city.

All three stores are among 150 total being shuttered nationwide by financially struggling Sears Holdings, with liquidation sales now under way. Those stores are expected to close no later than April, the company said.

(Now hiring: At Home moving toward Feb. 2 opening at Peachtree Mall)

(Store-closing ax doesn’t touch the Macy’s store at Peachtree Mall)

(Sears and Kmart stores in Columbus are closing)

(‘Nothing held back’ as Sears and Kmart begin liquidation of stores)

This story was originally published January 20, 2017 at 12:44 PM with the headline "Two stores preparing to close at Peachtree Mall in Columbus."