By Jim Bohman DAYTON DAILY NEWS
[CORRECTION] * A STORY ON PAGE 5B OF FRIDAY'S PAPER SHOULD HAVE SAID THAT FRIDAY'S OPENING OF THE LAZARUS STORE IN THE MALL AT FAIRFIELD COMMONS WAS A WELCOMING CEREMONY CONDUCTED BY MALL OWNERS FOR A LIMITED PUBLIC AUDIENCE. THE STORE'S GRAND OPENING IS SET FOR SEPT. 30 TO OCT. 2.
PUBLISHED CORRECTION 9/24/94
[END OF CORRECTIONS] Beavercreek's Mall at Fairfield Commons is virtually complete today with the formal opening of Lazarus, the fifth anchor department store.
Lazarus arrives nearly a year after the curtain was raised on the bulk of the 1.12 million-square-foot shopping complex. The new anchor and its concourse fill the mall's remaining void.
Ribbon-cutting ceremonies are set to begin around 9:40 a.m., with the store opening scheduled for 10 a.m. The two-floor, 150,000-square-foot store, built at a cost of $15.4 million, is on the mall's west side near Elder-Beerman.
Shoppers will find a two-level, open-design store with broad aisles and marble-tiled floors. The design permits easy access to all areas of the store. The entrances from the mall concourses are done in colors of creme and caramel. The overall look is similar to the newly renovated Dayton Mall Lazarus.
Lazarus' tardy arrival was by design. The start of construction was delayed by a reorganization at Lazarus' parent, Federated Department Stores, and a shift in department store sites. Lazarus originally was to be in a regional mall planned for Indian Ripple Road at Interstate 675. But that mall was canceled in favor of the Glimcher Co.'s center about three miles to the north at North Fairfield and New Germany-Trebein Roads.
The spacious store makes the new regional mall roughly equal in size with the Dayton Mall, the largest shopping complex in the region. But the Mall at Fairfield Commons complex is clearly on top in number of anchor department stores - Elder-Beerman, Parisian, J.C. Penney, Sears and Lazarus.
The Dayton Mall is slightly larger with 1.15 million square feet of gross leasable area. It has three anchors with a fourth planned - Lazarus, J.C.Penney, Sears and a McAlpin's to open in two years. The Salem Mall also has three anchors - Lazarus, Sears and J.C.Penney - but only 817,293 square feet.
Chris Lavender, general manager of the Mall at Fairfield Commons, said the Glimcher Co. proved skeptics wrong by building in a retailing recession. There was wide belief, he said, that consolidation among retailers and tight lending policies would cause the new mall to stumble, as did the Forest Fair Mall in suburban Cincinnati.
"We've defied the laws of the industry in our efforts in leasing and sales," Lavender said. "I feel confident we will have 93 percent of our space open and operating by the end of November. Normally, it takes three to four years to reach that level."
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NEW LAZARUS\
* Company: Federated Department Stores Inc.\
* Store: Lazarus\
* Location: Mall at Fairfield Commons\
* Address: North Fairfield and New Germany-Trebein roads, Beavercreek. Fairfield Road exit on Interstate 675\
* Manager: Joanne Gunn\
* Employees: 160\
* Significance: Opening of Lazarus today is the fifth and final anchor department store for the year-old regional mall\
* Telephone: (513) 320-2302; Fax: (513) 320-2307\ ------------------------------------------------------------------------
[ILLUSTRATION] PHOTO: Joanne Gunn, manager of the $15.4 million Lazarus store scheduled to open today in the Mall at Fairfield Commons
PHOTO CREDIT: JIM RUTLEDGE/DAYTON DAILY NEWS
[EDITION] CITY [SOURCETAG] 9409230096 [PAGE] 5B