Oaks ‘Re-Merchandises’ With Some New Tenants

With shopping centers sprouting up out of barren lots all over Ventura County, and existing retail complexes expanding in multiple phases of development, The Oaks shopping center in Thousand Oaks sits where it has for 17 years, virtually unchanged.

Well, not quite.

With last week’s opening of the Track ‘N Trail shoe and apparel store, The Oaks has welcomed a dozen new retailers to the 140-store mall since mid-October, the majority arriving since the beginning of November.

Since the start of the year, 18 stores have joined the mall--leasing a total of 22,000 square feet of space. A restaurant and another three stores--the women’s fashion retailer BeBe, Bath & Body Works, and the KCET Store of Knowledge--are scheduled to lease an additional 15,000 square feet by early 1996.

These changes to the mall’s retail structure are taking place not through expansion, but through replacement of tenants. The “re-merchandising,” as mall officials call it, has resulted in more than two dozen stores signing on with the two-level, 1.83-million-square-foot shopping outlet since 1993. It was that year, the mall’s 15th anniversary, that many tenant leases began to run out.

“We are replacing stores that were not particularly productive sales-wise,” said Barbara Teuscher, general manager of The Oaks. “They were not stores that appealed to the customer.”

Most recently, the mall has added a Native Visions jewelry shop, Pretzelmaker Inc., the Sunglass Hut, a Sesame Street General Store, and the apparel stores Nine West, Limited Too, and Talbots.

Based on customer demand, Teuscher said the Talbots store is replacing the Lerner shop that was previously at The Oaks. “Our customers are pretty savvy. They definitely wanted to see Talbots,” said Teuscher.

Talbots, with 460 stores nationwide, specializes in apparel for career women, as well as classic sportswear, casual wear and dressy attire. The Oaks shop is the chain’s first Ventura County location.

Teuscher said Talbots and the other new stores at The Oaks typify the mall’s attempt to meet the demands of the Thousand Oaks-area customer base. “We have fairly healthy disposable income in this area that we cater to,” she said. “It is very much of a family market.”

Joe Daquino, manager of McClave Jewelers, a tenant at The Oaks for 15 years, said the store additions speak of the mall’s increased focus on offering a variety of shopping options.

“Five or six years ago, not too many people wanted to shop here, they’d go to the [San Fernando] Valley,” said Daquino, vice president of The Oaks board of directors. “But we continue to become more versatile. With the specialty shops, we have a lot of variety. We’re trying to target not only the families, but younger individuals and older people too.”