First of two parts

Jordan and Shamrock shopping plazas are undergoing a change, and it goes much further than welcoming back Subway at each of the centers, located on opposite sides of Clinton. From renovations to additions and expansions, the shopping plazas are thriving.

Billy Ray Jordan, director of real estate for a triad of shopping centers that includes Shamrock, Jordan and Lakewood, located in Roseboro, and Jesse Lindsay, president of Paramount Foods, parent company over anchor store Piggly Wiggly and landlord of Jordan Plaza, sat down this week to talk about the metamorphoses at both Jordan and Shamrock.

Among the changes currently in effect, they said, Carolina Eye Care Professionals and Clinton Family Dental are each being doubled in size. As part of the transition, Carolina Eye was relocated and moved in to the new location at Jordan Oct. 1.

Diversifying what is offered at both shopping centers has been key, Jordan and Lindsay attested.

“This came about by us diversifying the tenant mix in the shopping center to include some medical profession, and that happened with Dr. Barowsky (Carolina Eye) back three of four years ago,” Lindsay said. “We saw what was happening in other towns in eastern North Carolina, and then opportunity surfaced and we kind of went with it. We became amenable to it, I would say.”

“I travel and get around a lot and, as I’ve visited other shopping centers, I began to notice that shopping centers had offices like dentist offices and urgent cares, and I came back and, lo and behold, we’re talking with Dr. Barowsky,” Jordan recalled.

Quick Med Urgent Care was added along the way, as were other personal and medical care professionals, including Clinton Family Dental. Now, Kelly Chiropractic Center joins the mix.

“Clinton Family Dental has been here about three years and we’re doubling the size of their office and, when it’s completed, we’ll have 13 operatorial rooms — rooms which have dentist chairs in them,” said Jordan.

Carolina Eye Professionals previous location will be home to newcomer Kelly Chiropractic.

“That building is being renovated to suit his needs and he is expecting hopefully to open some time in probably early December,” Jordan said. “We relocated Jackson Hewitt, with an expanded office, and they are opening some time about the middle of November.”

Lindsay said the move enabled the previous Jackson Hewitt location to go toward Clinton Family Dental’s expansion. When J. West moved from Jordan to Shamrock, that allowed Jackson Hewitt to transition into that vacated space.

Subway also re-opened Wednesday.

“We’re excited that Subway is going to re-open,” Jordan said. “It got closed down back in June and we’ve known all along that it would reoccur. It just took time.”

The loss of two tenants, Beneficial Finance and Advantage Home Health, has been aided by another expansion — at Matthews Cards and Gifts.

“Going in the building that was occupied by Beneficial Finance there is going to be a Matthews Cards and Gifts expansion,” said Jordan.

Lindsay said that leaves only one space to fill to have Jordan Shopping Plaza at full capacity.

“That leaves only the Advantage Home Health space that is vacant,” he noted. “Only one parcel that’s vacant, and we’re negotiating with a very good potential (business), and we think that one will be occupied real quick. When that parcel (is filled), it will mean this shopping center is 100 percent occupied. It’s a tradition that this shopping center has pretty much for a long time been totally occupied.”

Jordan Shopping Plaza extends along Northeast Boulevard, from Matthews Drug Store to Domino’s Pizza, with Han-Dee Hugo’s and First Citizen Bank bordering to the south.

Jordan and Lindsay expressed pride in the different businesses that call the strip home.

“Now, if you get around out here, you’ll find that we are very diversified. We’ve got medical, we’ve got retail, we’ve got restaurants, we’ve got about anything that people need,” said Jordan. “Being diversified, and having the tenant mix that we’ve got, have given us a parking lot full of cars almost daily. Our business is good, our tenants are happy and we’re in good spirits with it.”

He said he realizes the state of the national economy, and considers himself fortunate. Lindsay agrees.

“We feel good to be fully-occupied, with upbeat and pleased tenants, with the economy as it is and we’re just really proud of it, and thankful,” said Lindsay. “Economy-wise, we’re just experiencing community support and we feel good with holding our own, as far as Piggly Wiggly, Paramount Foods, and all the tenants in the properties here. We’re just very grateful for the mix of tenants, and we’ve got locals and some chain.”

Shamrock

Along with welcoming J. West, Shamrock Plaza, located off Sunset Avenue, is now home to a new hibachi-style restaurant that has received a warm reception from local residents in the short time since it opened.

“We started working about 10 months ago at Shamrock and we spent eight months creating a restaurant known as Ichiban Hibachi and Buffet,” said Jordan. “It is absolutely elegant. It’s very nice.”

“To say the very least, it’s upscale,” Lindsay remarked. “It’s an upscale, family environment and it has started off real well and it was accepted very well by the community. We’re just very pleased to have it. We think it’s a real asset to the community and to the little strip shopping center Shamrock, which is 100 percent occupied.”

In addition to Ichiban Hibachi Grill & Supreme Buffet, Shamrock includes Pizza Inn, Piggly Wiggly, J. West, a second Subway location, the N.C. License Plate agency and Brown’s Cleaners.

The younger of the two shopping locations, Shamrock Plaza began with the establishment of its Piggly Wiggly store in the early 1970s, with Eckerd Pharmacy and Beneficial Finance setting up shop soon after. About a decade ago, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, four new stores were added on to the center, including the current tenants, Subway, Brown’s Dry Cleaners, the license agency and the space now occupied by J. West.

Jordan Shopping Plaza opened up in 1959, with Piggly Wiggly in operation at Jordan since 1963. During the early years, there were major expansions, five enlargements and “several other cosmetic” projects, Lindsay noted, that got the Piggly Wiggly to its present state.

Piggly Wiggly at Jordan has gone from 6,400 square feet to 40,000 over the years. The one at Shamrock started out at 13,000 square feet and is now more than double that, around 28,000. Similar growth can now be seen mushrooming around the grocery stores.

Success at each of the centers has not come without work, both Jordan and Lindsay are quick to add. Jordan said maintenance at the shopping centers has always been a priority. With many stores open late hours, lighting the property is vital for both tenants and their patrons, Lindsay noted.

“That’s another thing that’s a real positive,” said Lindsay. “We’ve gone all out to light the property at night and it has really been a benefit and a comfort to customers. I don’t particularly want to get to naming but you can go to any other major shopping center here, or small ones, you can go to any of them, and they’re drab. They’re half-lit.

“It’s a positive for our properties, and it’s not an accident,” he continued. “It didn’t just happen. It’s on purpose and we pay for it. It costs money to have that safety environment in these shopping centers at night.”

“I think we have a very safe environment here and a place where people are not afraid to come to,” added Jordan.

In the midst of all this expansion, regular maintenance has been a constant. Parking lots are striped, re-striped and painted. Buildings are renovated and the structure was re-facaded throughout the entire Jordan shopping center just a couple years ago, Lindsay said.

“We work at it every day,” Jordan attested. “We get compliments on these stores and our appearance almost every day.”

While growth has come through the years, and the look of the shopping centers has been altered as time has passed, the goal has remained the same.

“Our goal is to keep our parking lots full,” said Jordan. “We’re upbeat about our place and we’re doing well.”

Chris Berendt can be reached at 910-592-8137, ext. 121, or by email at sicrime@myclintonnc.com.