Christmas tree Shops opened its doors today in Erie at the Millcreek Mall Pavilion at 2088 Interchange Road.
The chain, which was founded in Cape Cod, Mass. in 1970, offers home furnishings, housewares, food gits, paper goods and seasonal products at discount prices.
The new Erie store is 36,000 square feet.
“We are thrilled to introduce the Christmas Tree Shops’ experience to Erie and surrounding communities,” Todd Jones, the company’s president, said in a statement.
Holiday hours for the new location are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Also opening today was a new Dunkin’ Donuts location, which is located in the Millcreek Mall’s food court, adjacent to Baskin-Robbins.

The Millcreek Mall has announced plans to open a new store.

Body Central, a women’s clothing store, is expected to be open for business by mid-November.

The new 4,300-square-foot store will be located in the Sears concourse of the mall.

Officials of the Youngstown-based Cafaro Co., which owns the mall, described Body Central as a store that specializes in new fashion trends and basic favorites at value prices. Styles range from feminine chic to hip and casual.

The store is part of Body Shop of America Inc., a chain of 180 stores that was founded in Florida in 1973.

A new linens store opens Friday in the Millcreek Mall Pavillion space once occupied by Linens N Things.
The new store, headed by the former chief executive of Elder-Beerman and backed financially by former Cafaro Co. executive J.J. Cafaro, is called Linens & More For Less.
The 35,000-square-foot store, located next door to Gander Mountain, will have an assortment of bedding, towels, cookware, glassware and flatware.
The company said in a news release that this is not a discount store chain, “but a value-driven quality retailer, offering top-grade merchandise at amazingly low prices.”
This marks the third location for the newly formed chain, which opened its first store in July in Warren, Ohio. There are immediate plans for three more stores in 2010, and nine more in 2011.
The company’s chief executive is Fred Mershard, former chief executive of Elder-Beerman Stores Corp.
Until recently, Cafaro was a top executive at Cafaro Co., which owns the Millcreek Mall.
– Jim Martin

John J. Cafaro, who retired in late December as vice president of the Youngstown-based Cafaro Co., which owns the Millcreek Mall, spent the weekend in jail.
Cafaro, who had specialized in acquisition, leasing and development for the company, was in a federal courtroom in Akron Thursday for failure to provide personal financial information needed to set bond.
U.S. District Court Judge John Adams said it was the first time in seven years that he had seen a defendant fail to provide this basic information, according to a report on Vindy.com, the Web site of the Youngstown Vindicator,
“You’re going to jail. Now,” the judge told him, according to the newspaper’s report.
A day earlier, Cafaro pleaded guilty to false statements related to a contribution he made to the unsuccessful 2004 congressional campaign of his daughter, Capri Cafaro. She now serves in the Ohio Senate.
As a result of that false statement, the newspaper reported, her campaign filed a false report with the Federal Election Commission that failed to acknowledge a $10,000 loan he made to the campaign.
John J. Cafaro, who will be sentenced on that charge in June, is expected to request later today that bond be set in the meantime.
The Cafaro Co., which owns 33 million square feet of commercial real estate and has been ranked as the nation’s 13th largest shopping center developer, referred questions to Cafaro’s attorney.
“The federal charges against John J. Cafaro involves his personal activities and in no way involves the Cafaro Co. or any of its affiliated entities,” the company said in a statement.

Digital City, which describes itself as a lifestyle network, has picked its top 10 biggest and best malls in the country and the Millcreek Mall is on the list.
The mall, owned by the Youngstown-based Cafaro co., comes in at fourth on the list.
A brief section of the article touts the local mall for its size — 2.6 million square feet — its 241 stores and new food court. Also earning a mention were the benefits of tax-free clothes shopping.
Number one on Digital City’s list? Minnesota’s Mall of America.
– Jim Martin

Owners of the Millcreek Mall say they have no immediate plans for the building that once housed Dick’s Sporting Goods to the west of the mall.
Work is under way to tear down that 61,500-square-foot building, saving only OfficeMax, which will become a free-standing store.
Joe Bell, a spokesman for the Youngstown-based Cafaro Corp., which owns the mall, said the building is being “deconstructed” rather than demolished so that many of the materials can be reused. The work is expected to be complete by Thanksgiving.
Bell shot down a television report that a parking garage would be built on that location.
“A parking garage was an idea that was kicked around a little over a year ago. We thought it was going to be the way to go,” Bell said. “Somewhere along the long the line a decision was made that we weren’t going to make a covered parking garage.”
Bell said mall management determined prospects weren’t good for filling the vacant spaces.
“We are finding when retailers move to out-parcels they like something that is more to their standards,” he said.
Brienne Ottaviani, marketing manager for the mall, said the space being torn down, had previously housed both the sporting goods store and a Chinese restaurant.
— Jim Martin

Fuddruckers, a national hamburger chain with more than 230 locations, is open for business at the Millcreek Mall. The restaurant, which also features chicken sandwiches, soups, salads, fries and milkshakes, is located in the mall’s new food court area.
Fuddruckers was founded in Texas in 1980.
Local store hours are 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
– Jim Martin