Tacoma Mall news: 2 popular shops set to remodel while a well-known salon plans to move

Recent permit filings with the city of Tacoma show more changes are coming to the Tacoma Mall, including one familiar salon’s exit.

First, the loss: Gene Juarez Salon and Spa is relocating to a new shop at 915 Pacific Ave.

Katie Trent is CEO of Gene Juarez Salons and Spas and Gene Juarez Academy. She told The News Tribune via email Friday, “We are so excited for our upcoming move to downtown. ... We are thrilled to be part of the development and growth of the Downtown Business District.”

She noted the new site “will feature a modern industrial design, and will house a salon and skin care/waxing departments. We anticipate the move will take place toward middle/end of February.”

Media representatives for the mall’s owner, Simon Property Group, said they could not comment “at this time” about what will replace the salon.

The move is among other recent changes the salon company has made.

The Gene Juarez Academy North Campus in Mountlake Terrace closed in October 2022, sending remaining enrollees to its south campus in Federal Way. Gene Juarez in November moved its salon from Kitsap Mall to The Trails at Silverdale.

Remodels and new credit card

While the salon’s move is a loss for the mall, other stores are set to invest in their sites.

This month, Apple filed both a pre-application and building permit application for remodeling its Tacoma Mall store, with both filings requesting “expedited review.”

According to the filings, plans call for replacement of ceiling panels in the sales area, with refurbishment and new fixtures for Genius Room and manager’s office, at a cost of $100,000. The work is tentatively set to start at the end of March.

Another mall retailer, Bath & Body Works, has filed plans for a remodel, including new shelving units, doors, partitions, ceilings, lighting, fixtures and other items.

That project is tentatively set to start in February, at a cost of just under $400,000.

Representatives for both Apple and Bath & Body Works did not respond to requests for additional details.

In a move to boost mall tenants, Simon announced this month a new Simon American Express Credit Card, in partnership with Cardless, a credit card provider to individual brands.

Card members can earn statement credits from purchases and promotional credits tied to stores at Simon properties.

“At launch, participating retailers include JC Penney, Aéropostale, Brooks Brothers, Eddie Bauer, Forever 21, Lucky Brand Jeans, Nautica and Reebok. Online purchases at Gilt Groupe, Rue La La and Shop Premium Outlets qualify as well,” the card’s launch announcement said. “While a physical card will arrive via postal mail, shoppers and diners can also make purchases with a virtual card via Apple Pay and Google Pay.”

More details are at cardless.com/cards/simon.

The end of Sears followed by reinvention

The mall has stayed busy reinventing itself for years, with initial plans submitted to the city ahead of the loss of Sears in 2018. The Sears store portion of the mall was demolished in 2019, making way for new retail centers outside of the main mall, bringing Nordstrom Rack and Total Wine & More, among others.

Late last year saw the opening of Tacoma’s first Kohl’s at one of the mall’s new exterior retail centers, Lovisa opening a new jewelry store next to Gene Juarez Salon & Spa, and the news of Glow Tea and Jollibee both set to join the mall’s roster of tenants.

Sears itself has whittled its full-service stores in the state to its site at Westfield Southcenter in Tukwila. Its other remaining full-service department store in Washington, the Union Gap Valley Mall Sears, closed in December.

That site could reopen in the fall as a Sears concept store, according to the Yakima Herald-Republic.

Sears emerged from bankruptcy in November with just over 20 stores left in the nation. That’s down from nearly a thousand 15 years ago.