Mall at University Town Center features soft opening that is reminiscent of a 'Mini Black Friday'

UNIVERSITY PARK -- Revealing its potential drawing power, an estimated 2,000 shoppers created a "mini Black Friday" atmosphere early Saturday at two department stores in The Mall at University Center.

It was "Macy's Signature Preview Charity Day" at the north end of the mall and Dillard's soft opening on the south end of the mall, 140 University Town Center.

"It was like a scaled-down Black Friday," said Rhonda Lieberick of Habitat for Humanity-Sarasota, which had a display near the front door of Macy's, referring to the first day of Christmas shopping after Thanksgiving.

Entrance to Macy's was augmented by offering the shoppers a chance to donate to charities of their choice in exchange for a price discount.

Two of the Macy's early birds, Richard and Judy Williams who live in Country Club West in Lakewood Ranch, went directly into the Starbucksinside Macy's for a cup of coffee before Judy put her shopping game face on.

"I'm surprised he wanted to come because he's not a shopper," she said of her husband. "But I think he wanted to see it because it is said to be cutting edge."

"The traffic wasn't too bad," Richard Williams, chairman of Lakewood Ranch's Community Development District No. 6, said. "I-75 was fine, We came shortly before 10 a.m. and just had to wait through three traffic-light cycles to make the left turn from University Parkway into the mall."

Based on the combination of never-slacking-off foot traffic and parking lots jammed with cars, Macy's and Dillards officials estimated a total of 5,000 to 7,000 customers came through the stores, which were open five days before Thursday's mall offical grand opening.

"I found Macy's bright and inviting," Judy Williams said. "Although the event attendance was similar to a Black Friday crowd, the aisles and displays were wide enough to still feel comfortable. I was impressed with the brands and the fully stocked displays. We found the pricing to be reasonable and we used our $10 off coupons to purchase some sportswear for our grandchildren."

Judy William's charity was the Lakewood Ranch Women's Club and Richard's was the Hearing Loss Association, Sarasota/Manatee Chapter.

At first look, Gretta Holcom said the new mall offered a stark contrast to Bradenton's DeSoto Square Mall."The DeSoto is so old and worn out," she said.

Judy Williams also couldn't help comparing area malls:

"I usually shop at (Westfield) Southgate in Sarasota, but it now seems very quiet and, quite frankly, dying," she said. "I've been to the DeSoto (Square) Mall twice and it's not appealing to me and hard to get there for Lakewood Ranch shoppers. I think as long as the traffic isn't bad, this will be a great place for us."

Judy Williams said her granddaughter was excited about "Lush," a U.K. cosmetic store that specializes in handmade cosmetics and bath products.

At Dillards, Sarasota's Sheryl Kent, who refers to herself as "a mall junkie," gave Dillards a top score of 10 out of 10.

"It's very nice," she said.

Cindy Birkhold of Sarasota had bought new heels at the shoe department in Dillards.

"I love it" Birkhold said of the new Dillards. "The shoe department is huge. They have everything you could want."

The new Macy's is the first built in Florida since 2008, said Melissa Goff, a Macy's spokeswoman. It's also the only Macy's outside of Hawaii to have a Tommy Bahama women's shop.

"We are very, very pleased," Goff said of the Saturday turnout. "It felt like holiday shopping inside our store. Traffic was steady all day. It was overwhelming how the community came out. I attribute that to the charities in the community but also because Sarasota and Bradenton are fantastic, very receptive and supportive."

"This was two years in the making," Goff added of Saturday's special opening. "You do get nervous. But we knew we had something special when we opened those doors."

Macy's will be continue to be open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday and Tuesday, Goff said. Wednesday might see an early close because of preparations for Thursday's grand opening, she said.

Most fanatic mall fan

If Barbara Hunt isn't Bradenton's most rabid fan of the new mall, it would be hard to imagine anyone topping her.

For the past year and a half, Hunt has been scrutinizing every Bradenton Herald for any tidbit of mall news, said her husband, Ralph Hunt.

"There is nothing she doesn't know about the mall," Ralph Hunt said.

In fact, Barbara Hunt's passion for the new mall is so deep that she inspired her daughter, Beth Cato of Covington, Ga., to fly 491 miles to Sarasota just for the Macy's opening.

"I love all of this," Barbara Hunt said Sunday. "This is my domain. I'm in heaven."

Part of Barbara Hunt's success as a mall fan is that her husband doesn't mind if his wife shops for 11 hours. He had a novel by Joseph Finder in his back pocket Sunday.

"She's been following every new bit of news about this mall," Hunt said of his wife of 33-years. "I'm just happy for her."

Cato, who said her husband hates to shop and stayed in Georgia, was going hot and heavy for a new "hippie"-style blouse in Macy's with wide sleeves. It was priced at $49.50 but she had a "25 percent off" sign on the rack and Cato had her $10 off coupon.

First 'lost' car

Some fun facts from the soft openings:

Linda Bear of Bradenton, owner of A Plus Cleaning, may be the first shopper to have parked her car and not been able to find it at the new mall.

"Leave it to me to be the first," Bear said.

At about 9:30 a.m., Bear parked in Lot 3 for Macy's opening, but her husband had parked in Lot 12 around the corner and told her by cell phone to repark there. Bear had already walked away from her car and couldn't find it again. Finally, with her husband's help, she and her car were reunited.

Valerie Moody and family members Katyln Moody, 16, Madison "Maddy" James, 16, and Lindsey Moody, 4, were the first people in line at Macy's, at 9:10 a.m.

"We're going to do some early Christmas shopping," Valerie Moody said.

Macy's is a bit pricey, but that's no worry, Maddy said,

"It's no problem if you shop right," Maddy said.

* Diane Scribner, Lynn Notine and Marci Daley, all of Ridgewood in Ellenton, may have been most committed to their charity. The threesome support HOPE Family Services of Bradenton, which deals with victims of domestic abuse. Daley wore a purple ribbon to tout the charity and the three talked about HOPE while standing in line waiting for Macy's to open.

"We support HOPE shelters for women," Notine said.

The most enthusiastic charity saleswoman selling the $5 coupons may have been Jan Hasler of the Lakewood Ranch Women's Club.

"Our charities are Manasota SOLVE, which offers housing and more for pregnant women, Sarasota Manatee Association for Riding Therapy, also known as SMART and HOPE Family Services," Hasler said.

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter@RichardDymond.

This story was originally published October 12, 2014 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Mall at University Town Center features soft opening that is reminiscent of a 'Mini Black Friday'."