Since it opened in the late 1970s, Bear Creek Village in Redmond has evolved many times — and right now it’s on a hot streak.

Businesses have opened and stayed while others have closed, never to return. In recent years, due to the economic recession, there have been more cases of the latter than the former. But with the influx of a number of national chain stores — beginning with the opening of Designer Shoe Warehouse (DSW) last year — the once-deserted plaza is receiving a much-needed boost.

One of the newest stores to open in the village is Ross Dress for Less, which had its grand opening earlier this month on July 16.

The new store located at 17170 Redmond Way, replaces a portion of the former Linen ‘n Things, which closed in 2008. Ulta, a beauty retailer scheduled to open in August, will take over the remaining space. Both stores are new to Redmond.

Bobbi Chaville, senior director of investor and media relations for Ross Stores, said the company had been looking to open a new store in Redmond because the city’s demographics match those of communities with existing Ross stores. There are a number of other factors that go into selecting a location for a new store including high visibility, traffic flow and strong co-tenancy. Chaville explained that strong co-tenancy means having other strong stores in the location.

While the store has only been open for a short while, Ross usually begins the search for a new store location roughly 18 to 24 months before the target opening, said Chaville.

DRIVING NEW TRAFFIC

Steve Emery of Colliers International in Seattle, the property management company overseeing Bear Creek Village, said the opening of Ross (left) and Ulta as well as Sport Clips, also opening soon, will be very beneficial to the shopping center.

“It’s going to do nothing but enhance the existing businesses because it’ll bring in new traffic,” he said.

This already appears to be true.

Keith Scheel, owner of Great Harvest Bread Company at 17192 Redmond Way, said on July 16, several of his customers were coming from or on their way to the Ross grand opening.

“That’s terrific,” Chaville said. “I’m happy to hear that they may be benefiting from the traffic that (Ross is) bringing to the center.”

Great Harvest opened its doors in 1983 so Scheel has seen Bear Creek Village’s evolution throughout the years. He said when they opened, the plaza was always busy because other stores and shopping centers in the area did not exist yet. However, as Redmond’s shopping options grew, so did the city’s population. As a result, Scheel said customers continued patronizing Bear Creek Village.

NEW HOPE

And then 2008 came and many businesses in the plaza were affected by the failing economy.

“It just emptied out,” Scheel said. “It was empty for about two years.”

Lisa Aliment, owner of Bear Creek Florist at 17186 Redmond Way, agreed.

“(Bear Creek Village) was completely struggling,” she said.

Aliment’s father and aunt opened the floral and gift shop about 34 years ago. Aliment was a teenager at the time and is a second-generation owner. She said Bear Creek Florist is one of the original businesses in the plaza. Safeway is another original business.

Bear Creek Florist has remained open, but it has not all been smooth sailing. Aliment has had to tweak her business model in the face of the recession, adding gifts to their product line to attract more customers.

Kammy Pietraszek, owner and director of Drawn2Art (formerly KidsArt) at 17210 Redmond Way, said for the nearly 10 years the kids’ art studio has been open, parents have taken advantage of the what the Bear Creek Village has to offer while their children took her classes. With the new businesses opening, Pietraszek said parents will only have more options on how to pass the time.

“I’m sure that all of the businesses within Bear Creek Village will benefit from having many new places for our customers to shop as well as ourselves,” she said. “…It will also hopefully bring new customers to our plaza who may have never had a reason to come to Bear Creek Village in the past.”

MOVING FORWARD

Emery said not including Ulta (right) or Sport Clips, which are currently under construction, Bear Creek Village is on its way to being full with only four spaces needing to be filled. Including the new stores, there are 25 open businesses in Bear Creek Village. Emery added that Colliers hopes to have 95 to 100 percent of the shopping center occupied.

“There’s always some bit of transitioning throughout,” he said about tenants coming and going.

Emery said Colliers also plans to update Bear Creek Village’s aesthetics: Building fronts will receive new paint in complementing colors; and a new landscaping plan will be implemented before the end of the year.

Additionally, the roughly 175,000 square-foot plaza will focus more on soft goods — mainly clothing.

Emery said one of the advantages Bear Creek Village offers interested businesses is its location. The plaza is close to State Route 520 and between two busy thoroughfares: Redmond Way and Avondale Way.

“It’s just an ideal location,” Emery said.

Aliment added Bear Creek Village has plenty of accessibility and ample parking.

Emery said people are beginning to look into opening businesses again, which can only mean good things for Bear Creek Village.

“The economy seems to be leveling out,” he said.