West Park Mall to be closed Thanksgiving

Shoppers who like to get a head start on the holidays by hitting the stores on Thanksgiving Day will find themselves with fewer options this year.

West Park Mall will be closed on Thanksgiving Day and won’t reopen until Black Friday.

The announcement directly affects all the stores within the mall that do not have exterior entrances.

J.C. Penney, Macy’s, Barnes & Noble and Furniture Factory Liquidators all have the option to open on Thanksgiving Day, although not all the stores have made a decision.

A representative for J.C. Penney said the store’s holiday hours have not been announced.

Similarly, Macy’s has not released its holiday schedule, which would include Thanksgiving and Black Friday.

Furniture Factory Liquidators could not be reached for comment regarding its Thanksgiving Day hours. Although the store will be open in November, its phone number is not currently in service.

Barnes & Noble, however, already has a plan in place: The bookseller will be closed on Thanksgiving and will open on the following Friday.

“We usually follow what the mall does,” said Jamie Geoffroy, manager of Barnes & Noble.

His employees, he said, are thankful for the extra time to spend with their families.

But all the other stores in West Park Mall don’t have the option to remain open, and the mandatory day of rest generally is seen as a positive thing.

Brandon Whitaker, assistant store manager at Charlotte Russe, said the mall’s Thanksgiving hours have changed frequently over the years, and as an employee, he’s glad to have his Thanksgiving free.

Store manager Emily Plaisance, who missed out on an out-of-town family gathering to work also expressed relief at the day off.

“Last year, I had a turkey sandwich,” she said, “so I love that we’re closed this year.”

Whitaker considers it a mixed blessing because while it will save hourly wages, it means less time to meet sales quotas.

Last year, West Park Mall opened at 6 p.m. Thanksgiving Day and remained open through the night. There was a lot of down time in the very early hours, he said, while people visited the big-box stores, but still, the sales will be missed.

Should something change and mall officials change their mind about the closure, the store has a Plan B in place, Whitaker said, and Charlotte Russe will be open for business.

Across the aisle at Maurices, having Thanksgiving Day off is nothing new.

Store manager Rebecca Bucher said although the mall was open last year, the clothing store was not.

“I’m glad to see the rest of the mall close as well,” Bucher said. “It just makes things easier.”

Though the announcement of the closure comes on the heels of a similar one from Mall of America in Minnesota, the nation’s biggest shopping mall, Stacey Keating, director of public relations at CBL & Associates Properties Inc. said CBL’s decision was unrelated.

Keating said the decision was a measured one, made after considerable discussion with CBL’s retail partners, employees and customers. The feedback from shoppers since the announcement has been positive, she said.

Indeed, on the Cape Girardeau West Park Mall Facebook page, several customers expressed pleasure about the announcement and said they hope the mall’s anchor stores will follow suit.

After it closes Wednesday, Nov. 23, the mall will reopen at 6 a.m. Friday, Nov. 25.

“We want to bring back the excitement of Black Friday shopping as the true start of the holiday shopping season and allow our employees, retailers and shoppers to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with their families,” Stephen Lebovitz, president and CEO of CBL & Associates Properties Inc., said in a news release.

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