UPDATE: New anchor named for Kettering’s Town & Country; other stores expand

Ross Dress for Less clothing and home decor store expected to fill former Stein Mart corner anchor space

KETTERING — A new anchor tenant is expected for Town & Country Shopping Center as one business is expanding while another is relocating to a larger space, the Kettering retail complex co-owner said.

Documents obtained by the Dayton Daily News on Wednesday indicate a Ross Dress for Less — a national clothing and home decor retailer with two Dayton-area locations — is planned for the site formerly occupied by Stein Mart.

The new anchor would move into the former Stein Mart location on the Far Hills Avenue end of the shopping center, Columbus-based development company Casto told this news organization.

The name of the business was not identified by Senior Asset Manager and Broker Kelly Casto. Records received by the city of Kettering indicate Ross Dress for Less is the subject of a “tenant improvement package” for the site.

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Credit: JIM NOELKER

Casto said in an email that she expects the former Stein Mart site will “soon be occupied.”

Ross has more than 1,600 stores in the U.S., records show. It currently has locations in Beavercreek near The Mall at Fairfield Commons and at the Dayton Mall in Miami Twp.

It is a discount clothing, shoes and home décor retailer established in 1982, according to its website. The company provides a 20% to 60% discount on items compared to typical department stores, according to footwearnews.com.

Stein Mart opened at Town & Country in 1992 and consumed 34,000 square feet. The retailer left the shopping center at Stroop Road and Far Hills Avenue after it announced in 2020 that it was closing nearly 300 stores.

Town & Country, which is co-owned by Slikken Properties, is “amassing a large, contiguous blank canvas of available space” and has “other exciting tenants in the works,” Casto said.

More space will be available near the Stein Mart / Ross site, as Bath & Body Works is expanding at a new site in the middle of the center, Casto said.

Meanwhile Panera Bread, in the rear (south) part of Town & Country, will add more space, and will add a drive-through and parking after a demolition now underway at the center, she said.

“Currently we are looking forward to furthering our investment, as we work on the exciting re-tenanting happening, making way for some big changes at the mall,” Casto added.

Bath & Body Works will occupy about 58% more space with the move, going from 2,000 to 3,400 square feet, she said.

On the south side of Town & Country, a 4,500 square-foot “unleasable small shop, part of the original shopping center constitution” is being demolished to make way for Panera’s expansion, she said. The restaurant will add 450 square feet to its current 4,100.

The permits for the demolition and expansion were issued Feb. 14, according to the city.

Town & Country lists 34 tenants on its website. They include 2nd & Charles, T.J. Maxx, Tuesday Morning, Petco, Trader Joe’s and several other restaurants, among them Buffalo Wild Wings.

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