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Show " " , ' - ' 1 i . ; ;. : ; "y-r: :i":';'!y '''.' 1 iiiiiini inn r" ii mn Him 11 m iMiinn .- J 'if tin i i..n- utrrn t mi n f immm nmtmHk lit - MwiuMffWinniiB itim jUtffr iiifium- - -' - Dell R. Holbrook, left, his son, Richard, and grandson, Ricky, are ncirci AOMCHIT proud of their success with Lakewoods Home Furnishings, Boun- DEVcLOl rlfcli I tiM's largest retal store for the past 78 years. Holbrooks say they would prefer a downtown mall development, but not without expansion expan-sion and improvement of 5-Points Mall and downtown merchants. By GARY R. BLODGETT BOUNTIFUL Owners of Bountiful's largest retail store are in favor of a downtown mall, but only if the shopping center w ould be an asset to existing ex-isting merchants. "I BELIEVE an enclosed mall would benefit every one." said Dell R. Holbrook. owner of Lakewoods Home Furnishings, Fur-nishings, which has been the largest store in Bountiful for the past 78 years. "Competition and comparison compari-son shopping is always good. Additional traffic created by a mall could do nothing but help the existing merchants." AT THE SAME time, Mr. Holbrook emphasized that a downtown mall should not even be considered unless there is expansion and improvements im-provements done first at the 5-Points Mall and efforts made to assist the existing merchants. mer-chants. "We've got to take a look at the overall development of Bountiful, including what we already have," he said. His two sons, Richard and Stephen, agree. DELL THEN added: "I d just as soon not be a participant partici-pant of the mall, but I wouldn't object to being located adjacent adja-cent or near a mall, even if the mall w as located a block or two down the street." He stressed that the mall should be of a "special type" with the right kind of stylish stores. The mall, he says, should have not less than two major department stores. "I HAVE about the same philosophy as the Redevelopment Redevelop-ment Agency director f Kit Bettilyon)," said Mr. Holbrook. Hol-brook. "And I believe that the majority of south Davis County Coun-ty residents would prefer a mall in the city." Mr. Holbrook said he feels that 70 percent of the property owners in the area of the proposed prop-osed mall, between center and 400 North east of Main Street would be willing to sell and that the remaining property owners would reluctantly sell "if they are offered a fair price and a suitable relocation site." AS FOR the Holbrooks, they said they, too, would even sell their store to aid in the mall development if proper arrangements were made. "We don't expect preferential treatment, but we don't expect to be taken advantage of either," they said. Asked if it's a "now or never" nev-er" time to develop downtown Bountiful, Mr. Holbrook replied re-plied with a shy grin: "IT HAS always been a door-die situation as far as some are concerned," he said. "They thought it was now or never 20 years ago w hen Bountiful Boun-tiful officials first started looking look-ing at downtown expansion. It was the same thing seven or eight years ago and today's no different. He emphasized, however, that now is a crucial time to begin major development in Bountiful because of the threat of a shopping mall on Parris Lane in Centerville. "If a regional re-gional mall should go in there, it would be very detrimental to Bountiful merchants," he said. MR. HOLBROOK noted that he has always felt the LDS Tabernacle on Main St. should be the focal point for any development de-velopment and that the Stoker Elementary School would be "a great asset to downtow n expansion." ex-pansion." Asked about the change of character should the city undergo a mammoth downtown down-town expansion program, Mr. Holbrook noted: "CITIES ARE always changing character. Bountiful just 25 to 30 years ago was much different than today with a downtown theatre, an opera house, two dime stores, two grocery stores, three drug stores, and a couple of hardware hard-ware stores." But that's not to say that M r. Holbrook wants to change the atmosphere of Bountiful. "NOT AT ALL," he says. "I have lived here all my life, most of the time within two blocks of the store (Lake-woods), (Lake-woods), and I don't want to see any major changes in the commercial com-mercial area unless it is going to help everyone." He maintains that if a mall should be approved, 100 East and 100 West should remain two-way streets and not changed to one-way streets as some studies have proposed. WHAT ARE the biggest problems of a proposed downtown down-town mall, he was asked. "Changing the shopping habits of our residents, getting them to stay in Bountiful to shop," he said, "And the only way to do that is to offer quality, quali-ty, comparison shopping. There's no reason for our residents resi-dents to go to Salt Lake City to shop if we have the merchandise merchan-dise that they want to buy." HE SAID he agrees that some downtown merchants may be hurt by development of a mall, especially those with low-cost leasing arrangements who won't be able to afford high lease costs usually associated associ-ated with a mall. "But 1 honestly believe that even those that might suffer at first will more than make up the loss in a short period of time because of the additional traffic a mall would generate," he said. MR. HOLBROOK said he purchased extra property in the area of his store with plans for expansion. "I even wanted to bring in a major department store next to mine, but it didn't work out so I remodeled and improved my own store," he said, emphasizing that he is not ready to "sell out and retire." "In fact." he added, "it's apparent that if a mall is not developed and we remain at the present location, we will have to go forth with another major expansion and improvement improve-ment project of the store." LAKEWOOD'S, formerly known as Union Furniture, was started 78 years ago next February by three local residents: resi-dents: Dell's father. Mark C. Holbrook: a brother, Ira C. Holbrook: and Frank B. Smedley, a brother-in-law to Ira. |