Plaza starts anew with store opening
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
LIBERTY -- Chicago investors who bought a vacant Belmont Avenue plaza last year have their first tenant.
U.S. Factory Outlets, a discount retailer, opens Thursday in the unnamed plaza just south of Liberty Plaza, which used to house Giant Eagle and Freight Liquidators. The store will have its grand opening a week later.
Alan Friedkin, a Liberty businessman representing the new owners, said that he hopes to attract a grocery store to the former Giant Eagle location and that he is talking with other retailers about coming to the plaza. He said some companies are interested in the plaza but have been waiting for someone else to be the first tenant.
"Once U.S. Factory Outlets opens, I think a lot will happen," he said.
Purchase: Belmont Plaza LLC, which is made up of Chicago investors, bought the plaza in February 2000 from Kamin Realty, a Pittsburgh-based company, for $1.25 million.
Friedkin said he thinks the new owners have shown a commitment to filling the plaza by hiring him as a local representative to work with tenants.
Besides the grocery store, there are two smaller retail areas in the plaza. There also is a former bank branch that is available.
The store: U.S. Factory Outlets sells clothes, electronics, housewares, toys and domestic items such as pillows and towels. The store employs 25.
The company's Web site said it targets the value-conscious consumer and that customers usually have a household income of $35,000 a year or less. The site said its stores feature bargains and closeouts but not complete lines of products.
Bill Hambrick, store manager, said the company deals directly with manufacturers, buying overstocked merchandise and new products that manufacturers want to test.
He said officials of U.S. Factory Outlets think there is an opening for a discount retailer in Liberty. It is the company's first store in Ohio. The New York-based retailer operates 27 stores across the country.
Hambrick said the company has no plans to open other stores in the area.