Kohld Call

Shorewood Mayor Rick Chapman made the call to Kohl's, but the retail giant isn't budging on its plan to put off coming to town for another year.

"Their representative told me, because of corporate capital re-allocation they have to back the store opening up for a year," Chapman said after his Thursday call to the Kohl's offices.

The call was a last ditch attempt to get Kohl's to reconsider the year-long postponement.

"There's absolutely nothing Shorewood can do to change that right now," the mayor said. "It's between the developer and Kohl's."

The village had banked on Kohl's opening in October and being the first piece of its Towne Center commercial development to fall into place. Kohl's likely will still be the first business to open, but it's not going to be until October 2013 at the earliest.

The delay stems from Kohl's poor performance in the fourth quarter of 2011, Chapman explained earlier this week. The disappointing quarter prompted the company to re-evaluate its strategy for opening new stores.

But Kohl's is still committed to opening a store in Shorewood, the mayor said.

"A year later, so be it," he said. "It beats them never coming."