YOUNGSTOWN McGuffey Mall gets new look, repairs

Local businesses constitute the mall's tenant market, a company official says.
By PETER H. MILLIKEN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
YOUNGSTOWN -- McGuffey Mall is getting a significant face-lift, says an executive with the Cafaro Co., the mall's owner.
The company has installed new sliding-glass entrance doors, painted parking lot lighting poles, and spruced up the mall's pylon sign, said Al George, the company's vice president for real estate. The company will soon fill holes in the parking lot, and it also plans to paint and clean the interior common areas, he added.
George spoke Tuesday evening to a meeting of the Northeast Homeowners and Concerned Citizens Association at Price Memorial AME Zion Church on Dryden Avenue.
"We want to attract businesses and organizations and to give it a better look" and help revitalize the community, George said.
The main potential market for mall tenants consists of "local businesses and organizations who are already in the area, or who may want to come to the area, or who may want to expand in the area,'' he said.
Tenants
Current McGuffey Mall tenants are the U.S. Post Office, Arco Barber Shop, Head Start Learning Center, Bulk Foods Warehouse, Ace Jewelers & amp; Pawn Brokers, Family Dollar, McGuffey Clinic, Mr. A's Eatery, Tiny's News and Beverage, Wigland, N 2 Hair, Super Duper grocery store, National City Bank, and the Candy Jar Co.
George said the company is in discussions with a cellular phone business regarding a mall location and with those who want to open an apparel store and a pizza shop there. "I think that's a good start. It's a matter of 'Can we make the numbers work?' And we're trying very hard to do that," he said.
George also said the company is negotiating with a public agency, which he declined to name, to potentially occupy the mall's former bowling alley.
The nearby Garland Plaza, also owned by the Cafaro Co., houses the Mahoning County Department of Human Services and K & amp; P Sportswear.
Louise Gillam, a resident, said she'd like to see Popeye's Chicken, which is planning a store in Boardman, open a store at the mall.
She said, "We would like to have some of these things over here so we don't always have to travel. I know most of us are just tired of traveling to get to things that we need and we want."
milliken@vindy.com