Suburban Square: 2 New Stores Coming, Manager Talks Vacancies

Two new tenants at the Ardmore shopping center, both specialty apparel tenants, will be announced within weeks, general manager Mark Bachus said.

Despite a number of recent vacancies and announced store closings, including Apricot Lane, Victoria's Secret and American Eagle, Suburban Square continues to thrive, Mark Bachus, the shopping center's general manager, told Patch last week. Currently, Suburban Square has seven major store vacancies, but the center will announce two new tenants within the next few weeks, according to Bachus. Even with the vacancies, the center is 90 percent leased. Read on for details on what plans exist to fill current and expected vacancies, along with information about Suburban Square's sales performance in 2011 and 2012. The Ardmore shopping center has seen a lot of business turnover in the past year, including departures from American Eagle in March and…

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Suburban Square's Autumn Makeover

Last week’s series focused on new stores, the new courtyard and a new restaurant.

At Ardmore's Suburban Square, where some stores have been under the same ownership for 50 years, tradition is important.  But part of the tradition at Suburban Square, opened in 1928, is thoughtful, measured change. Over the next six months, plans approved by Lower Merion Township a year ago should come to full fruition, with a new courtyard, an opened-up St. James Place (for concerts and other public gatherings), more outdoor seating, new "concept" stores and a new high-end restaurant.  The Ardmore-Merion-Wynnewood Patch featured a four-part series of stories (Sept. 13th to the 16th) about these changes, along with thoughts on some recent high-profile closings at the center, based on interviews with Suburban Square General Manager Mark …

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New High-End Restaurant, Anthropologie 'Concept' for Suburban Square

The shopping center's GM is not worried about recent big-name vacancies.

Fourth in a series about changes at Suburban Square in Ardmore. * The news over the past couple of months has not been great for Suburban Square, with several high-end shops closing, part of a national downsizing or liquidation trend that’s affecting everything from bookstores to wedding dresses. The Coach store closed in the Spring. Pierre Deux’s French parent company no longer exists and is liquidating. The elite string of Priscilla of Boston bridal shops are closing, including the one on St. James Place, just as you enter the Square’s courtyard, which is undergoing a major re-do. At the other end of the courtyard, Talbots closed its doors last week. But Mark Bachus, the shopping center’s general manager—though frustrated at times—is not…

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Coming Thursday: Suburban Square's Latest Evolution

We'll look at the new courtyard taking shape and see what's in store for the center's stores.

Thursday we'll feature an extended interview with Mark Bachus, general manager of Suburban Square in Ardmore, about what's happening with construction at the property, thoughts on replacing Priscilla of Boston, parking issues—and a review what else is leaving, what's coming, and how things are looking overall financially. In the meantime, check out the first two installments of the series, on the Apple Store's temporary closure and Pierre Deux's permanent departure, along with City Sports' big move into the recently vacated, and quite large, Talbots space.

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All That & Ardmore

Ardmore Will Host Local Business Owners as Regional ‘Classic Town’

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission is starting its second annual trolley tour of thriving small downtowns in Ardmore, and will tour the Frank Lloyd Wright home currently for sale.

In just its second annual “Classic Towns Trolley Tour,” scheduled for Wednesday, July 27, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission has chosen to spotlight Ardmore, starting the day with a breakfast hosted by the Ardmore Initiative. About three dozen local business owners and representatives from other DVRPC-designated “Classic Towns” throughout the region will also tour Ardmore’s downtown business district, and visit the Frank Lloyd Wright “Suntop” homes on Summit Road. One of the homes, built in 1939 with the ambition of being a cornerstone for a new type of community planning, is currently for sale, as first reported by Patch last month. The group will be able to take a walk-through. The DVRPC, which works within a nine-county …

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Suburban Square Boss Named to Main Line Chamber Board

Mark Bachus, GM of Suburban Square, is also a member of the Ardmore Initiative.

The Main Line Chamber of Commerce has elected Mark Bachus, general manager of the Suburban Square shopping center in Ardmore, to its board of directors. Bachus, also a member of the Ardmore Initiative, has been GM at Suburban Square since November 2009. A Texas native, Bachus has been in the shopping center industry for about 20 years, moving to the Philadelphia area to work at the King of Prussia mega-mall complex before taking his current job. Chamber board members generally serve two three-year terms, which may be extended. “It gives us the opportunity to network with different businesses, to sort of give back to our community, and it also allows us to market ourselves to our customer base,” said Bachus on Monday, about his election. “…

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