For merchants staying in the Gallery, fears of fewer shoppers

When Amar Hussain looks out at the Gallery concourse from his post behind the counter of RK Jewelers, he sees more than tile and lights.

He sees a shrinking number of customers, a base that seems sure to dwindle further when a construction barrier cuts the mall in half a month from now.

"It's already slow," said Hussain, who sells sparkly watches, necklaces, and earrings.

The gradual, month-by-month demise of the distressed Center City shopping spot has disrupted lives, jobs, and businesses. Now pain is about to be visited upon the remaining stores in the west side of the mall.

On Oct. 2, the developer will begin a $325 million, two-year, top-to-bottom renovation to turn the timeworn Gallery into the shimmery Fashion Outlets of Philadelphia.

When public access to the almost-empty east side of the mall is halted on that date, commuters and transit riders will lose their indoor shortcut. And the west-side stores will lose customers from among that mass of transit riders - 8,900 a day who enter or exit the PATCO station, and 26,000 a day who use Jefferson Station, both attached to the mall.

"We don't know how it's going to go," said Pam Hunter, manager of the Rainbow clothing shop. "We tough it out - that's all we can do."

A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust, the codeveloper with California-based Macerich Co., said the firm has sought to lessen the hardship of tenant stores by scheduling demolition in phases.

The first stage will occur between Eighth and 10th Streets. The construction barricade will stand just west of 10th, blocking access to the nearby stairs and escalator, which usher people up to Market.

In the second phase, to begin in about a year, PREIT said, construction will move west to 11th Street.

"With respect to the impact on the west end of the mall, we understand the closure will impact foot traffic," said PREIT spokesman Kevin Feeley. "It's something we've talked about publicly, and something we've talked about with our tenants for nearly two years.

"I'm not trying to minimize the impact, but it's not a surprise. This is something everyone has known for a while."

Last week, PREIT executives formally notified SEPTA and PATCO of the closing date.

Transit riders will have to enter and exit at SEPTA and PATCO stations, or through doors to the Convention Center entrance, also known as the Reading Terminal Headhouse. The interior mall entrance to the 11th Street subway stop will remain open.

For west-end merchants, that likely translates into fewer shoppers.

Passengers who disembark at the PATCO station at Eighth and Market will be blocked from walking west through the mall. Meanwhile, commuters coming from Jefferson Station will have no reason to walk east - the path will be closed ahead - unless they wish to visit a specific west-end shop.

Those stores, which include GameStop, Foot Locker, Claire's, and Bath & Body Works, rely on transit riders traversing the mall from the rail stations at either end.

"They depend on foot traffic," said David Fiorenza, a Villanova University economics instructor who studies urban renewal. "Urban center [stores] depend on people having the signage right in front of them."

The ragged eight-block stretch from City Hall to Independence Mall, government leaders believe, is poised for rebirth, with millions of dollars in new apartments and stores being built. The Fashion Outlets is a key part of that, intended to lure shoppers from across the region with off-price, brand-name outlets and destination restaurants.

For now, in its death throes, the Gallery grows ever more empty, unpopulated and grim.

Security officers watch over broken escalators and vacant shops. The Starbucks that closed in May left behind the husk of its kiosk - that disappeared Monday. Disturbed people sometimes use the mall as an open-air bathroom.

On the east side, the only store is Century 21, the discount clothing retailer that will help anchor the new Fashion Outlets.

In the west end, the Pay/half clothing shop has posted big yellow signs in the windows that say, "Closing this store." A staffer at Leather Man, which sells coats, said the store plans to stick it out.

"The reality is, we have to close a portion of the mall to renovate it," said Feeley, the PREIT spokesman. "We recognize that impacts our remaining tenants, but there's just no way around that fact."

215-854-4906@JeffGammage