Eastgate Town Center has taken another step on the path to rehabilitation with its signing of Citi Trends, a value-priced family apparel retailer based in Savannah, Ga., to a multiyear lease.
Citi Trends will take 16,500 square feet for retail space adjacent to Office Depot, facing Brainerd Road.
Paul Mallchok, Eastgate's general manager, said Citi Trends' choice of venue was no coincidence.
"One word - demographics," he said. "We have the right mix of people in the Brainerd area, we have good family income numbers and the Brainerd area has the right work force."
The complex also benefits from a high level of automobile traffic since it's near the intersection of Interstate 75, Interstate 24 and Brainerd Road, he said.
The space Citi Trends will take was formerly occupied by a Goody's, so outfitting the location for retail apparel will be less expensive than starting from scratch, Mr. Mallchok said.
"This really fills in most of our retail need," he said. "The bulk of our remaining space is intended as office space. ... We got them, we're thrilled, we can't wait to get them open."
Citi Trends' Chattanooga store, which will be one of 15 stores in Tennessee and 420 nationwide, is part of a wave of 60 stores set to open this year, according to President and CEO David Alexander.
"Chattanooga is a market we definitely want to be in," Mr. Alexander said. "We're a rapidly growing retailer in 23 states, and Tennessee has been a very good state for us."
The company has struck a chord with families looking for name brands at a 30 to 70 percent discount, and has rapidly grown in the past few years as other retailers have struggled, he said.
"Last year we grew about 15 to 20 percent in terms of sales growth, and we expect to do that again this year," Mr. Alexander said. "Particularly in this economy we've done very well."
The company typically operates its stores as "small-box" locations versus "big-box" stores, he said, with seven to 10 employees per store in a 10,000 to 12,000 square-foot space. But based on population density and traffic counts at Eastgate, the company will have a larger floor plan.
"We had a good real estate opportunity in a location that has a lot of vehicle traffic, and we felt like it was a good location, so all of those things were appealing," Mr. Alexander said.
A graduate of East Tennessee State, Mr. Alexander said he is excited to bring his 5,000-employee business to Chattanooga, a market he's had his eye on since joining the company 15 months ago.
"We've had great success in Nashville, and we've had great success in Atlanta, so this was one of the first markets I asked about when I joined Citi Trends," he said.
The store will open in mid-July, according to Mr. Mallchok.