Merchants and customers still call it a village.
But the shopping center around Foothill Drive and 1300 South is boasting blockbuster business that area malls would love to brag about.Gross sales during the first four months of 1990 have doubled those of the same period last year - a boost developers attribute to many factors.
First, the $30 million expansion of Foothill Village, which began in 1985, is finally completed. Rental space has grown from 100,000 square feet to more than 280,000, with 1,000 parking stalls, 460 of them covered.
The Village today is almost 85 percent occupied. There are 60 merchants (and room for 15 to 20 more) who are selling just about everything anyone needs.
The quaint Village, located on Salt Lake's busy east bench, has a good mix of restaurants, soft goods and sporting good stores, plus those extra necessities - pet and office supplies, books, flowers and nummy chocolate candy.
But the Village's forte is specialty women's ready-to-wear. In some cases, that means designer wear bought only at Bill Loya's or Geonti.
Neighbors, who once fiercely fought the Foothill expansion project of developer Johansen-Thackeray & Co., now are sliding (literally) into Gregory's toy store, practicing batting skills at the Village Sports Den, sipping espressos at Brumby's and buying easy-to-handle kitchen appliances for the new bride at No Place Like Home.
To the merchants, that means money. Big bucks.
In fact, Sue and Dick Christensen, owners of Strawberry Patch children's store, said the sales at their Foothill store (open for 10 months) almost equals that of their Sandy store - which opened 14 years ago.
Recently they sold $250,000 (at cost) of Osh Kosh clothing during a two-week period at the village store alone.
"We are seeing tremendous growth now that the center is complete and basically occupied. One of the reasons is the quality of the tenants and quality of the merchandise they carry - and the loyalty they have. I also think the unique geographic location of the village helps. We are a monopoly in the northeast corner of the valley,"said developer Armand D. Johansen.
The village's location is definitely a draw. Synergism also helps.
But according to Johansen and partner John R. Thackeray, the businesses themselves are the real reason the Village is a success.
"The thing that distinguishes Foothill from any other center is that we are predominantly Utah businesses - not national tenants," said Thackeray. "We have, I think, the best of the local tenants - the Bill Loyas, Strawberry Patch, Gregory's, Body Tech, D. Grant Limited, Upper Crust - unique, locally owned stores."
What that means is that most of the store owners are on locale to greet customers, or, yes, hear their complaints.
"So I think people get treated a little better than they do in a typical mall," Johansen said."The owner is on the job. He's not on a salary from some big com-pany. He has to sell products so he has to treat customers right."
Thackeray and Johansen aren't planning a Phase 4.
But they're well-aware of the Village's needs and are trying to address them.
Simply put, because the speciality stores aren't within everyone's price range, the developers are courting some more moderately priced, less exclusive stores to balance out the selection.
They're after specific clients - a shoe merchant, electronic computers - maybe even a Mexican-Italian restaurant.
The requirements, however, will remain the same. To locate in Foothill Village, stores must be Utah-owned.