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Pat Catan's opens, Planet Fitness to come to Austintown Plaza
By ROBERT CONNELLY
AUSTINTOWN
Business is picking up at the Austintown Plaza.
A craft store and a physical-fitness center are the latest additions to the longtime Mahoning Avenue shopping destination.
Martin Solomon, president of B&I Management, which owns the Austintown Plaza, said Pat Catan’s craft store had a “soft opening” Sept. 24 and will have a ribbon-cutting next week.
“We expect the store’s going to do real well,” said Ray Young, retail marketing manager for the craft store, which has between 25 and 35 employees in its 49,000-square-foot store.
A ribbon-cutting will take place at 8:45 a.m. Tuesday with specials the weekend of Oct. 9-11. The store features scrapbooking, custom framing services, seasonal decorations, custom floral arranging services and a kids section, among other items.
There also are Pat Catan’s locations in Boardman and Niles.
Solomon said Planet Fitness has also signed a lease for space within the plaza next to Buffalo Wild Wings and next to an empty space that neighbors Pat Catan’s.
A spokeswoman for Planet Fitness confirmed the new location Tuesday.
“We’ll be getting under construction in the next few weeks” for Planet Fitness, Solomon said. “We’ve had discussions with a number of different fitness operators, and this was the first one ready to make a commitment.”
Similar to Pat Catan’s, Planet Fitness has locations in Niles and Boardman.
“Austintown is a distinct market, and I think there’s a little renewed activity out this way ... [and it] finally got to the point where the Austintown market is strong enough to support” both stores, Solomon said.
On top of these additions, Biotest Pharmaceuticals Corp., a plasma center, opened in the plaza in June.
“We’re much more full than we were a year or so ago. We still have a few empty spots scattered around the plaza,” Solomon said.
While this development is happening at the plaza, Meijer Stores Limited Partnership, a grocery chain, continues its evaluation of the old Fitch and Ausintown Middle School building at 5800 Mahoning Ave.
The school district and the grocer entered into a 180-day brokerage agreement and letter of intent in late August.
“I hope Meijer will come. That would be a positive for us,” Solomon said.