North Platte Neb.-Platte River Mall Management recently announced that the national retailer, rue21, will soon be opening in North Platte. rue21 offers a broad assortment of fashion trends in apparel and accessories for girls and guys. rue21 considers their stores young, fresh, and affordable. “rue” comes from the French word for “street” while “21” represents the age that everyone wants to be!
As of May 30, 2012, rue21 stated they operated 810 stores.The company is headquartered out of Warrendale, Pennsylvania and has stores located in 46 states. The closest rue21 store to North Platte is in Grand Island. Clarine Eickhoff, mall property manager’s remarks, “rue21 is a progressive company.
The corporate website lists 24 stores opening soon with our location still needing to be added. They are a company that is completely focused on a younger market. I believe the mix rue21 will add to the Platte River Mall will add additional energy and of course fill a portion of one of our much larger spaces. When complete, rue21 will occupy 4,800 sq. ft and will be in the north end of the mall near Famous Footwear. Construction is slated to begin this week with a late October opening if all goes as planned.
North Platte subcontractors will be working on the project and the general is Jim Wood Construction out of Arkansas. Wood Construction has done several build outs for rue21s and due to the aggressive timeline of the store opening we are needing an efficient process that rue21 is comfortable with.” The rue21 new store announcement follows last weeks announcement that Maurices temporarily relocated in the mall while their store is getting a full remodel.
Construction is to begin this week as well. “Progressive changes are happening,” Eickhoff added, “Conversations we have had with other retailers have lead us to believe that rue21 will be a catalyst for additional retail growth. Will others follow rue21 to North Platte? You know we can never know at this point. As a mall we are extremely optimistic. Mall ownership finalized the lease on July 3 rd after almost a year of negotiations. This was never a done deal at any point.
Leasing is a volatile process that requires patience, commitment and investment. When retailers such as this add options, tax revenue, and economic influence to a community, it is a huge accomplishment. Our Ownership has made a very important decision for North Platte and I can not be more pleased.”