Independents Day ; Recession-Racked Malls Seek Local Retailers to Fill Vacancies

Summary

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North Jersey shopping malls, once blamed for putting local retailers out of business, now are reaching out to them to fill vacancies as national chains close stores.

As the malls gear up for the all-important holiday season, they are rolling out the red carpet for North Jersey's Main Street merchants, offering reduced rents and other deal sweeteners to local businesses that just a few years ago would have been deemed too small for the mall.

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Extract

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Independents Day ; Recession-Racked Malls Seek Local Retailers to Fill Vacancies

While the region's shopping centers have always had local merchants, many of the mom-and-pop mall stores were pushed aside in favor of the national chain stores waiting for mall locations during the retail boom years of 1995 to 2007.

But the recession has changed that. With enclosed malls facing a national vacancy rate of 8.4 percent as of the second quarter, according to Reis Inc. -- the highest since Reis started tracking the rate in 2000 -- developers believe lo...

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