By Neil Johnson - October 12th 2022

 

JANESVILLE

Janesville’s Pine Tree Plaza shopping area is picking up another fashion retailer and soon-to-be an expatriate of Uptown Janesville.


Uptown Janesville’s management on Wednesday confirmed that the Maurices women’s fashion store plans to relocate from the indoor mall at 2500 Milton Ave. to the 7,800 square-foot former Hometown Buffet space at Pine Tree Plaza at 2900 Deerfield Road. The move to the new site, near the juncture of I-90 and Hwy. 14 on the city's far northeast side, could happen as early as November.


Uptown Janesville manager Julie Cubbage said Maurices' lease has expired at the mall, although the shop intends to exercise a “holdover” lease through at least November as a renovation rolls out at the Pine Tree Plaza.

City of Janesville construction permit applications show an Illinois construction firm intends an overhaul of 2900 Deerfield Drive, Suite 100, the storefront at the Pine Tree Plaza strip mall that previously housed Hometown Buffet.


Inland Pine Tree, the Oak Brook, Ill. holding company that owns and operates tenant space at Pine Tree Plaza, did not respond Wednesday to a Gazette reporter’s inquiry.


Pine Tree Plaza’s website shows a current tenant roster that lists Maurices as occupant of the former Hometown Buffet space. Calls to Maurices’ Duluth, Minn. headquarters went unanswered Wednesday.


Maurice’s move would follow a similar migration out of the mall by The Buckle, another casual fashion retailer that in March relocated from Uptown Janesville to storefront retail space along Deerfield Drive, just south of Pine Tree Plaza.


As with The Buckle’s move, Cubbage said she considers Maurice’s move unsurprising. She said it’s part of a broader trend by midsize mall concourse clothing retailers to exit indoor shopping malls in favor of storefront strip malls with proximity to big box retailers.
 
“We will miss Maurices,” Cubbage said.


Uptown Janesville continues a wait-and-see on a public-private proposal to replace its vacant former Sears store along Milton Avenue with the Woodman’s Center, a two-sheet ice arena and convention center.


Starbucks 

Cubbage also confirmed on Wednesday that the former site of a Steinhafels mattress outlet, a standalone retail building just west of the Dick’s Sporting Goods at Uptown Janesville, could soon house a Starbucks Coffee shop with a drive-thru.

The Starbucks would split space in the former Steinhafels with a LensCrafters eye mart that would relocate from concourse space inside Uptown Janesville. The plan faces a city zoning review later this month.

Toy Shop

An independent startup toy shop, Letgo N Play, meanwhile, intends to locate inside the mall, along Uptown Janesville’s south concourse adjacent to Dick’s, a local entrepreneur confirmed this week. 

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