A 'first-to-market' retailer could be filling the space left vacant when Sears closed at Devonshire Mall.
Mall General Manager Chris Savard says the interest level in the property has been great, especially after the mall invested $70-million in renovations.
He says retail is the primary focus to fill the empty space, but there is an opportunity for mixed use.
"I wish I could share who we are talking to because it is killing us inside but the good news, the interest level is great," he says.
He says meetings took place as recently as two weeks ago.
"We have had some really really incredible meetings from some retailers that we would be thrilled to attract to Windsor, first-to-market retailers, ones that we hear from our customers regularly that say, you should get an XYZ store," says Savard. "We know how much the phone rings and we know that when we get an opportunity to sit with these first-to-market-retailers and explain the benefits of what Windsor and Essex can offer, they always leave here wow'd and we did that recently."
Savard says an announcement 'could' be made this summer pointing out, "These things never move quickly because it is such a big space, the numbers are large, there are lots of different approvals both on the tenant side and the landlord side."
The mall opened in 1970 and Savard says sales are at its highest level in its history.
Sears closed back in January 2018 putting 100 people out of work, after it declared bankruptcy in early 2017.