Construction, Store Moves Under Way at Fairlawn Town Centre

Longtime stores at Fairlawn Town Centre on West Market Street are preparing for moves within the plaza to make way for the expansion of .

’ flagship store and corporate office will grow by 2,000 square feet when it moves in April from its 16,000-square-foot space at the western end of the plaza to the eastern end.

Two other stores had to relocate within the plaza to make way for Lucky Shoes’ new storefront, said Dan Fuchs, vice president of development and construction for WP Realty Inc. in Bryn Mawr, PA. The company bought the strip plaza in May 2010.

moved down several spaces last month, giving the store a slight increase in square footage. A new space for is under construction in an 11,000-square-foot portion of the former Circuit City storefront. Fuchs said the pet store is growing by about 40 percent and should open in its new spot in February.

“We’re very excited. The relocation of Lucky Shoes is great because they’re going to anchor the eastern side of the shopping center with a new multi-brand store,” Fuchs said. “Pet Supplies Plus is growing and going to anchor a part of the old Circuit City box, which is great for the shopping center as well.”

Fuchs said the relocations will allow Giant Eagle to expand into the adjacent Lucky Shoes space sometime later this year.

The Lucky Shoes and Pet Supplies Plus store exteriors will get facelifts, Fuchs said, “which will freshen up those parts of the center and give those tenants a real junior-anchor presence."

Tom Luck, chairman and chief executive officer of Lucky Shoes, said his family’s flagship shoe store was one of the first retailers to open in what was called Fairlawn Plaza in 1955. The store is the only original tenant remaining.

The family’s retail history dates to 1919 when Luck’s grandfather, Joe, opened a department-style store in Firestone Park that operated until 1982. The family business expanded when Luck’s father, Milton, opened the first Lucky Shoes store in Fairlawn in 1955.

“When my father opened Lucky Shoes, he had 3,000 square feet. Between then and 1962, the store expanded within that location three times to 6,000 square feet,” Luck said. “In 1973 my father had some health issues. I was working for another company and I came back to help with the business. In 1976, moved out and we took over that space, which was 17,000 square feet – kind of where we are now.”

Today, the Fairlawn location serves as corporate headquarters for the 14 Northeast Ohio stores owned by Lucky Shoes. Three of those stores – in Fairlawn, Canton and Strongsville – sport the Lucky Shoes name. The company also owns two Stride Rite stores and nine New Balance stores.

Luck said the remodeling currently under way at Fairlawn Town Centre will result in separate, adjacent storefronts for Lucky Shoes, New Balance, Stride Rite and a full-line SAS Shoes store.

The Lucky Shoes storefront will continue to offer each of those brands, as well as a complete collection of Vera Bradley and offerings from Brighton Jewelry and Johnston & Murphy leather goods.

“We’re going to do a lot of special things. We’re utilizing this opportunity to make our store a wonderful place to shop for specialty items,” Luck said. “We’re really not in the shoe business – we’re in the people business. It’s about the relationships we build with our customers.”