Store owners and shoppers weigh in on possible Pittsburgh Mills improvements

While many people are wary of change, Dave Miller is enthusiastic when it comes to the new ownership of the Pittsburgh Mills mall.

"I feel it can only be positive, really," said Miller of Buffalo Township and owner of the children's shoe store, Kidz Shoes, "I don't think we were getting the tenants we need with Mills."

Getting the right tenants is critical to the survival of the $370 million shopping and entertainment complex and particularly to independent store owners like Miller.

Thus, Miller views with optimism, the transfer of ownership and management of the mall along Route 28 from The Mills Corp. to Zamias Services Inc. Zamias had been a minority partner in the development but, along with German real estate company KanAm, recently bought out Mills.

Damian Zamias, a member of the Zamias family of Johnstown which has developed other shopping malls, first proposed a mall for Frazer more than 20 years ago. It finally opened in 2004.

"I really feel he'll be able to help the mall," Miller said.

Help, in Miller's view, is landing some high-end women's clothing stores as tenants and more children's clothing stores.

"Our business is very good here," Miller said. " I can tell you that I get a lot of customers who are from Fox Chapel, Allison Park, who like to shop at my store and they say they would come her more often if they had the stores complement it."

Susan McHale, part owner of Pollak's Candy, a mall tenant, was straight forward in her view of the ownership change.

"I think any change would be positive," McHale said.

She is hopeful that Zamias will be able to make the Galleria, the main mall, as successful as the surrounding stores which he owns.

"I know the surrounding stores are doing wonderful," McHale said. "I think if anything can be improved it would be the mix of stores."

She also said higher and mid-range price women's wear stores are needed.

"You want to draw from Fox Chapel and Oakmont, but you don't want to alienate anyone," McHale said.

When the NASCAR race track backed out of the Pittsburgh Mills, McHale said it was a disappointment. But she was heartened to hear that the Zamias group is negotiating with department stores to build on the NASCAR site.

Becca Arabia, 42, a shopper from Lower Burrell, also thinks that a better mix of clothing stores is needed.

"In my opinion, this mall is lacking adult clothing stores," she said. "This mall is geared more for younger people -- teenagers, college kids. My kids love it."

But, she said the mall ownership should be careful to bring in women's clothing stores that are not too upscale so they can be successful.

"If they get real high-end, I don't think it would be," Arabia said.

Women's retailers she suggested included Cachet, Chico's Cold Water Creek. As for bringing in another department store, she's hoping for Boscov's or Kohl's.

Julie Cook, 56, of West Deer, said she likes the mall but also mentioned the lack of shoe stores for women.

"There should be name brand shoe stores like Naturalizer shoes here," Cook said. "If I want those kind of shoes, I still have to go to Monroeville Mall or Ross Park mall.

Lori Ziencik, Frazer Township manager and a supervisor, thinks the change will be good.

"I think it's ironic, to tell you the truth, Ziencik said, referring to the fact that it was Zamias who originally proposed the mall.

The township has its offices at the mall and Ziencik said it enabled township officials to gauge the pulse of the development. She said there were some concerns.

"Our concern was more about getting anybody from Mills, on the corporate level, to pay any attention to this place," Ziencik said. "There just seemed to be an ambivalence toward the leasing and that was a concern."

In particular, that seemed to be the case as the company's financial woes seemed to deepen, she said. Although the mall has 27 vacant storefronts of varying sizes, Ziencik remained upbeat about the its future.

"This has, in no way, been a failure or a disappointment," she said. "The township is very pleased."

Tom Yerace can be reached at tyerace@tribweb.com.