Village Pointe is 97% full

A jewelry store, a beauty supply store and a stock brokerage firm will open in Village Pointe this spring and summer, boosting the west Omaha shopping center’s occupancy to 97 percent.

“This will be our highest occupancy yet,” said Kim Jones, marketing director at the shopping center, which will mark its seventh anniversary in May.

Jones said the addition of three stores during uncertain economic times speaks to the prosperity of the Omaha market.

The new tenants at the shopping center, near 168th Street and West Dodge Road, are Pandora, Beauty Brands and StockCross Financial Services.

StockCross Financial of Beverly Hills, Calif., will open a 2,475-square-foot office between the Banana Republic and Harry & David stores in mid-May. StockCross is one of the largest privately owned brokerage firms, offering a full range of investment services, including bonds, certificates of deposit and low-cost stock trading.

The owners of Omaha-based Elisa Ilana Jewelry will sell the Danish brand Pandora at a 1,126-square-foot store near Scheels on the north side of the shopping center’s Main Street. Pandora is best known for customizable charm bracelets with more than 600 silver and gold charms but also sells other jewelry collections. The Pandora store is scheduled to open in May.

Beauty Brands, a national beauty retailer and full-service salon and spa, will open this summer in a 6,100-square-foot space next to the new Brix store, a wine-and-spirits business that opened in January. The Kansas City, Mo.-based Beauty Brands operates more than 50 stores in 11 states.

Village Pointe announced in February that Old Navy would open a store on the east end of the center’s Main Street, in a corner space previously occupied by Cost Plus World Market, which closed in early 2009. The 18,357-square-foot Old Navy store will represent the company’s latest prototype design and will sell clothing for women, men, girls, boys and babies. That store is scheduled to open in late April.

Also in April, Brix will open its second phase, which will feature what it calls a California casual-style wine bar with an extensive wine preservation and tasting station and a multipurpose hospitality space for up to 75 people.

While Omaha’s economy remained among the strongest in the recession, national retailers’ struggles still touched local shopping centers like Village Pointe.

The Cost Plus World Market closing was a blow, and Wild Oats, a grocery store that opened in 2004 as one of Village Pointe’s anchors in the space now occupied by Brix, closed even earlier, in 2006. The Melting Pot, a Tampa, Fla.-based restaurant with 145 locations, also is due to close.

Even so, Village Pointe is nearly full.

“While 2009 was a challenging year for Village Pointe as it was for shopping centers nationwide a good number of Village Pointe retailers showed strong growth and sales increases despite the softer economy,” Jones said.

She attributed the high occupancy rate to a quality mix of retailers and restaurants, many exclusive to Omaha and even Nebraska: Coach, Z Gallerie, J. Crew and Apple, for example. Special events such as the farmers market, summer concerts and an art fair also have contributed to the success, she said.

“Our customers can enjoy a sense of community every time they visit, whether it’s for shopping or something else,” Jones said. “Village Pointe is a destination that offers customers many reasons to visit.”

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