Manager Is Shopping for Updated Mall Image

Peggy Wimberley, newly hired general manager of Janss Marketplace in Thousand Oaks, has something important to tell the public about the shopping center. What that is has not been decided, but then, Wimberley still has a few months to iron it out.

“We’re working on our marketing plan for next year, and we’re looking to position ourselves with a statement,” she said. “We’re trying to come up with a phrase. When I met with our consultants recently, I suggested something like ‘a regional community-oriented center with entertainment, retail and service-oriented businesses.’ ”

Creating a public image for the 32-store shopping center is among Wimberley’s top priorities as she tries to establish a 21st-century role for a site that dates back almost 40 years.

In 1994, the 591,000-square-foot mall, located at the well-traveled intersection of Moorpark Road and Hillcrest Drive, underwent a $60-million renovation and a name change--from Janss Mall--all meant to bring it up to speed with the The Oaks mall and other local shopping destinations.

Wimberley said the trick is to make sure the changes are noticed by would-be shoppers.

“You have to be sure that you get your positioning statement to the customers who have lived here a long time,” she said. “As you change, you have to make sure the public knows you’re changing.”

Wimberley joined the Janss Marketplace and its management firm, the Santa Monica-based Festival Companies, in June. She previously was general manager of Oxnard Factory Outlet and managed Plaza Camino Real in Carlsbad and La Jolla Village Square in La Jolla.

One of the key differences between working at the Oxnard outlet, just a few miles from Camarillo Factory Stores, and at Janss, just a few miles from The Oaks, is the level of competition, she said.

“It’s not as pronounced here,” she said. “We really have a lot of shops you would shop at and then go to another store at The Oaks. There’s still going to be a lot of crossover shopping.

“Even though this is a regional center, it is still very community-oriented,” Wimberley said. “That’s a tricky balance, but it has a lot to do with the tenant mix. We want to make this a place that has a little of everything. We are a midrange center, not high-end. We are not the [Westlake] Promenade.”

Part of Wimberley’s new role is to oversee further reconfiguration and store additions.

“I will be supervising tenant improvements,” she said. “I’m anticipating substantial movement in the next year--additions or reconfigurations, where we might have two spaces we might make it into one space. We’ll also have additional shops opening by the end of this year and into next year.”