SWAMPSCOTT — Where'd you go, Joe?
A dwindling number of merchants at Swampscott's Vinnin Square mall are asking the question after the departure of Trader Joe's preceded a dramatic loss in foot traffic and the closing of nearly half a dozen adjacent stores.
"We have no walk-by traffic," Pauline Spirito of Infinity Boutique said. "We've become a destination store."
"Trader Joe's was a huge draw," Ted Kennedy of Athletes Corner said. "It would be nice if that place filled up."
Help may be on the way. Susan Lucas of the Wilder Company, which manages four of the vacant properties, said new tenants might be installed soon.
"We are very close," she said. "It could be in the next couple of weeks. ... We have active prospects for each of the vacancies." She declined to give any names.
Lucas downplays the notion that the economy is responsible for all the vacant shops. In most cases, she said, "it's timing." Business was good, she said, when Trader Joe's decided to depart after opening a larger store on Route 1 in Saugus.
The exotic foods store left a lot of brokenhearted businesses in its wake.
Among the casualties were Finagle A Bagel, Kabloom, Leatherworld and Corners, a picture-framing shop.
A few doors up, Kennedy is selling sneakers out of a store with a big "Clearance Sale" sign on the window.
"We're hanging in there," he said, but notes that Trader Joe's used to attract shoppers from all over — "from Marblehead and Swampscott and from Salem and Beverly."
It was the worst possible time for the loss of such a draw, he said.
"In this economy, people are scared to death," he said. "People aren't buying that extra thing. They're getting exactly what they need and nothing more."
Corners, part of a chain that sells picture frames, was seized by the sheriff's office in October, according to Essex County Sheriff's Department spokesman Paul Fleming. They weren't paying the rent, Lucas said.
A gaudy yellow/gold sign on the door says "SEIZED" and adds to the sense of a retail wasteland.
"They put that on the door," Spirito said. "The employees came in that morning, they knew nothing about it. There was no warning." Their jobs were gone, nevertheless.
"A cold day like this doesn't help," said Sylvia Reman, who has worked behind the counter at Kenneth Jon Jewelers for 20 years. She confesses that she hasn't seen the mall this bad in all that time. "And it started mostly with Trader Joe's going out."
Spirito's Infinity Boutique is now sandwiched between two empty shops, but she wants it known that she remains open, selling women's fashions, including sports outfits.
"Even in bad economic times," she said, "we have a lot of good things going on here."
The reasons that stores failed are varied, said Leslie Gould from the Lynn/Swampscott Chamber of Commerce.
Kabloom, a florist, had a tough time of it, disappearing in only five months.
The owners, Gould said, explained their problem simply — "People can get their flowers at supermarkets."
Blue Tulip, which sold cards and gifts, offered an impressive staff.
"Very positive and energetic," Gould said.
It wasn't enough.
"In this economy, the big box store is the draw."
Smaller malls can fight back, she said, if they offer the right combination of businesses. Restaurants are still viable.
"People haven't stopped eating," she said. "I go out to eat, and I see tons of people in the restaurants."
Lucas said the mall managers are taking care to find just the right mix of tenants.
Beyond this section of Vinnin Square, there are few vacancies, either across the street or on the Salem side of the line. The parking lots remain busy. It's another hopeful sign.
"Vinnin Square has been here a long time," Spirito said. "It will come back."
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