Printable VersionThe newest tenant at the Shops at Lake Havasu Regional Lifestyle Center is already a familiar face within the community.
“We are delighted to be able to announce the first of the planned freestanding business on the out-parcels on the perimeter of our new shopping center,” said Wolford Development’s Clint Wolford in a press release. “Downey Savings is a tremendously successful banking operation and we look forward to a long-term relationship with them.”
The announcement came Monday as Downey officials joined Shops at Lake Havasu manager/marketing director Michelle Misurelli to look over the parcel where the strand-alone bank building will sit.
“This is exciting,” said Valerie Miranda-Lay, vice president and regional sales manager for Downey Savings.
Downey has operated a branch inside the Albertson’s grocery store on McCulloch Boulevard for the past five years.
“We are equally as pleased to be announcing this second location for our bank in Lake Havasu City,” said by Daniel D. Rosenthal, chief executive officer of Downey Savings. “We will look forward to providing new customers Downey Savings’ personalized service as well as our excellent banking and home loan products. We pride ourselves on our corporate motto — ‘The Friendlier, Easier Place to Bank’ — this second Lake Havasu City location allows us to expand on that philosophy.”
Downey Savings, headquartered in Newport Beach, Calif., currently operates 174 branch locations with five of the locations in Arizona. In addition to Lake Havasu City, the bank has locations in Bullhead City, Kingman and two in Prescott.
The new branch is expected to be open by the late fall.
A third store at the Shops at Lake Havasu opened for business Monday. The 18,000-square-foot PetSmart found customers waiting on line before the doors opened.
“It’s been awesome, totally awesome. Really busy,” said store manager Beverly Schmidt.
PetSmart has more than 10,000 different products for pets of all species. The store also offers a grooming salon, training classes and training center as well as pet adoptions through the Western Arizona Humane Society.
“The cats will be here on Thursday and a few dogs on Saturday. That will be a hectic day, so we don’t want too many dogs to have to deal with that stress,” Schmidt said.
Saturday at 9 a.m. is the store’s official grand opening.
Two Shops at Lake Havasu anchor stores have been open since March. Officials with the Shops at Lake Havasu said both the JCPenney and Dillard’s stores are reporting meeting or exceeding corporate sales projections.
The next store in line to open is the third anchor store, the 201,821-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter. When the phased openings of stores was announced in February, the plan called for the current Wal-Mart store to close on June 10 and the new, larger store to open its doors on June 11.
Janet Scott, with Wal-Mart corporate communications, said she could not comment on the specific date of the opening, but said “obviously, we’re getting very close.”
Following the Wal-Mart opening, the specialty stores are scheduled to open in August. They include Jus’ Kidding, Famous Footwear, Christopher & Banks, C.J. Banks, Styles For Less, Kay Jewelers and American Eagle Outfitters.
In the fall, the 10-screen UltraStar Cinema and Michaels Arts & Crafts will stage their respective grand openings.
The Shops at Lake Havasu is being developed on a 109-acre site on State Route 95, directly across from the Lake Havasu City Airport. In addition to the shopping center, plans call for seven out parcels at the site for such businesses as branch banks and restaurants.
You may contact the reporter@dbell@havasunews.com.
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