By Jim Bohman DAYTON DAILY NEWS
Shoppers visiting the J.C. Penney department store in Beavercreek's new Mall at Fairfield Commons must look up to see everything.
Coats, blouses, neckties and even stuffed bears and musical reindeer will be stacked to the ceiling.
The store, at the mall that opens Oct. 27, is designed to give customers the feeling of plenty. It's a new concept for J.C. Penney. Clerks will help customers reach the elevated goods.
"We want to overwhelm people with a lot of merchandise," store manager James L. LaBreck said.
But consumers who plan to shop at the new mall will have a wide range of choices. J.C. Penney is just one of four anchor department stores that join the more than 80 specialty shops and restaurants when the 1.2 million-square-foot mall debuts in less than two weeks.
The other anchors are Sears, Elder-Beerman and Parisian. Lazarus, a fifth anchor, is scheduled to open late next year.
Parisian will make its debut in the Dayton area. Indeed both Parisian and Dayton-based Elder-Beerman will feature large open sales rooms with few partitions, unlike Penney.
At Penney, the store is sectioned into numerous small shops.
"For example, we have the dress shirt shop, the accessories, underwear and socks shop," LaBreck said. "We are more segmented."
Why the difference in presentation? "I don't know," he said. "I guess each has to do what is tried and true for them."
But, like Parisian and Elder-Beerman, the J.C. Penney store will place much of its emphasis on apparel and other soft goods in a department store setting. Sears, in contrast, will offer more diverse lines, including hardware.
LaBreck said Penney brought in nearly two dozen display specialists from locations in the Midwest to finish the store in time for the opening.
The Beavercreek store, with 126,000 square feet on two floors, is smaller than the Dayton Mall store, with more than 222,000 square feet, and the Salem Mall outlet, with 160,000.
The Beavercreek store replaces the J.C. Penney outlet in the Airway Shopping Center and the smaller store in Xenia.
LaBreck said employees from those stores make up most of the 100-member staff of the new store.
Based in Dallas, J.C. Penney Co. Inc. operates 1,265 stores in 50 states.
[ILLUSTRATION] COLOR PHOTO: Penney store manager James L. LaBreck displays floor-to-ceiling concept at new mall
CREDIT: By ED ROBERTS/DAYTON DAILY NEWS\
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THE NEW MALL\ -------------------------------------------------------------
*Location: Mall at Fairfield Commons, Beavercreek.
*How to get there: Exit Interstate 675 at Fairfield Road.
*Mall opens: Wednesday, Oct. 27.
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