Deb Shops closing Miller Hill Mall location

Deb Shops will be closing their Miller Hill Mall location in late February... that is if the merchandise lasts until then.

The closing is once again NOT related to poor sales at the Miller Hill Mall but rather due to a company wide bankruptcy that will result in the closure of ALL 337 Deb Shops locations nationwide. Deb Shops sold women's clothing and accessories under private labels and their own and catered to a large cliental. The Duluth location also carried the Plus and Junior lines.

Deb Shops competition was Charlotte Russe, which opened a location about five years ago right next door, Wet Seal, which recently closed over 300 locations including their location at the Miller Hill Mall, and Rue21, which recently announced it will open a store at the Miller Hill Mall come this spring. Needless to say, the Miller Hill Mall might have been their worst nightmare competition wise.

While it is sad to see a tenant bid the mall farewell there is a silver lining. As we mentioned this closure is not due to poor sales at this location and that's a plus as it means the mall is doing well over all. As mentioned in our post "Miller Hill Mall: An outlook for 2015" that we posted this past week, the mall is currently in need of additional space for retailers.

The now closed Wet Seal location.

Radio Shack and the retail space next door will be combined for a new Rue21 location to open this spring

Deb Shops occupied quite a large chunk of space in the JCPenney's wing. Their closure will result in the freeing of prime retail space within the mall and space that is large enough that it could be split in order to house two tenants. There also is a corridor to the left of the Deb space that could be absorbed for additional retail space if the need arises.

We'll see how things pan out after the closure of Deb next month and as always we'll keep you updated on new developments at the Miller Hill Mall and the rest of the Twin Ports right here at CDINDULUTH.