Stein Mart to grow with Ocala

Ocala Star-Banner - September 21, 2001
By RYAN CONLEY
Staff Writer

Construction should begin within the next 30 days on the new Stein Mart, which will be located next to the new Michaels Arts & Crafts store in the Boyd Market Place on Southwest 19th Avenue Road, a hot commercial corridor more commonly known as Easy Street.

"As people from Ocala have had the opportunity to shop Stein Marts in other parts of the country, we have received many calls and letters requesting a store," said Mike Allen, Stein Mart vice president of real estate. "We felt we needed to get down there and give Ocala a try."

Stein Mart, which has increased from a single store in 1977 to more than 240 in 30 states, will occupy the 34,000 square-foot structure that will be built and leased by Boyd Development Corporation.

"We are growing substantially," said Allen. "We opened 30 new stores last year, and plan at least that many this year."

The store carries moderate to designer-level clothing priced at what Allen calls "off-price retail chains."

Stein Mart will complete the major tenants of Boyd Market Place, which includes a new Wal-Mart SuperCenter in addition to the Michaels. The announcement ends speculation that another clothier, such as Old Navy, would be opening in the shopping center.

"You hear a lot of rumors on the street," said Larry Young of Boyd Development. "Did we talk to Old Navy a while back? Yes. But we also talked to 30 other people at the same time. That's why we hesitate to say much of anything until everything is final.

"We are talking to a lot of people and a lot of different groups every day, that's how you know this area is hot," said Young.

Such thinking kept Young tight-lipped about the new eatery targeted for a parcel located across Easy Street in front of Hollywood 16 and directly behind McDonald's. Young would only say a national restaurant chain is under contract for the property.

In January, Guy Taylor of Specialty Restaurant Development in Maitland told the Star-Banner his company was going to build an Applebee's Neighborhood Grill and Bar on the site. Neither Taylor nor anyone at Applebee's corporate headquarters responded to the Star-Banner's request for a status report on the proposed project.

See September 21, 2001 issue of Ocala Star-Banner for original article