Southlake Mall in Hobart reducing weekday hours in March

BY ANDREA HOLECEK, Times of Northwest Indiana
holecek@nwitimes.com

HOBART | In the wake of a tough retail sales climate nationwide, Westfield Southlake mall is cutting an hour out of its daily weekday schedule.

Mall Marketing Director Lisa DeVries said the new schedule, to begin March 2, will help the mall conserve resources -- such as utilities and staffing -- and meet changing customer demand and traffic patterns.

The mall will open at 10:30 a.m., a half-hour later than its current schedule, and close at 8:30 p.m., a half-hour earlier Monday through Friday. The mall weekend hours will remain the same, with the mall open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sundays, DeVries said.

The hours are being shortened in conjunction with the mall's retailers, she said.

Hours at the mall's anchor stores -- Carson Pirie Scott, JC Penny, Macy's, and Sears, which all have entrances directly from parking lots -- occasionally may be different from mall hours depending on the stores' promotions and holiday schedules.

Although January retail sales climbed 1 percent from December, they were 9.7 percent below the same month in 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau announced Thursday.

Total sales for the November 2008 through January 2009 period were down 9.5 percent from the same period a year ago. The November to December 2008 percent change was revised from 2.7 percent to 3 percent, according to the bureau.

Retail trade sales were up 1.1 percent from December 2008 but were 11 percent below last year.