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J.C. Penney, Cheddar's coming to Ashland mall
J.C. Penney is building a new location at the Ashland Town Center. Its current space will be divided up for other retailers.
Purchase this photoASHLAND -- A new restaurant and a new J.C. Penney Co. store twice the size of the existing one are among the changes on tap this year at the Ashland Town Center Mall.
The 104,000-square-foot Penney's store nearly doubles the existing 53,000 square foot store. The new store is set to open Aug. 1, while the 8,200-square-foot Cheddar's restaurant is scheduled to open May 5, in an outparcel near Winchester Avenue, said Merri Hurn, mall manager.
The new Penney's, one of the company's new concept stores, will hire another 35 full- and part-time employees to work in the bigger store, said Keith Kinckiner, manager of the Penney's in Ashland. The building will be owned by Penney's, he said.
"They're a week or two behind schedule right now and that's weather related," Kinckiner said. "They can make that up when the weather gets better."
The bigger store will have more home furnishings, ready made and made to measure drapes, more bedding and small appliances, he said. The store also will have shopping carts and price scanners and could have a portrait studio, he said.
The new Cheddar's restaurant will employ about 150 full- and part-time employees and have seating for 350, said Lee Greer, a company official. The company will begin hiring in mid-April, two to three weeks before the restaurant is scheduled to open, he said.
"We're excited about coming to the Ashland market," Greer said.
The store will be the 14th owned by the company and the fifth in Kentucky, he said. The company has two stores in Lexington and one in Morgantown, W.Va., he said.
"We offer upscale, casual dining," Greer said. The restaurant will have a city liquor license, he said.
The mall is looking to subdivide the 53,000 square feet of space currently being used by Penney's into two stores. "We're in negotiations for some new stores," Hurn said. "We won't get that space back until September."
The new stores might not open until the spring of 2009, she said.
The 18-year-old mall also is downsizing its food court while adding space for fashion retail and the mall entrance to the new Penney's, Hurn said.
The Ashland Town Center is adding new lighting and a new, handicapped-accessible family restroom, she said. The restroom will allow moms to take young sons and fathers to take young daughters to the bathroom. The remodeling already is under way and could take about two months to complete.
