Second shop opens at Main Gate, 2 more on the way

Karen C. Tully Arizona Daily Wildcat Bath and Body Works is the first of several national chain stores expected to open in the new West Main Gate Square commercial development. The Gap will likely be the next to open, sometime in late March.

A Bath and Body Works employee said the store opened on Valentine's Day at 10 a.m.

Another Bath and Body Works employee said the new location has 10 employees - three full-time positions and seven part-time.

She said the location in the 800 block of East University Boulevard was most likely chosen as an attempt to tap into the college market, based on the success a location near Arizona State University has experienced.

Neither of the employees would give their names, citing a company policy that does not allow them to speak to reporters.

Don Semro, project manager for West Main Gate Limited Liability Corp., said he is excited to see something that has been planned for so long become a reality.

"I think it will be an asset to our community," Semro said of the new development.

He said he expects The Gap will be the next store to open, probably in mid- to late March. Coffee Plantation should follow suit about a month later, he said.

Semro said improvements to the sidewalks, lighting and landscaping in the area are being done as part of a City of Tucson improvement district. He said there is no definite completion date set for the improvement project, and the city is "trying to get a handle on it."

Dorgen said he did not know if the city had set a date to install the sidewalks and improvements.

Andy McGovern, project manager for the City of Tucson, could not be reached for comment.

Dennis Arnold, owner of Gentle Ben's Brewing Co., which was the first business in the area to open - Oct .16 - said he thinks the area will see an increase in business once everything is completed.

"They still have a lot of work to do out there. It's hard to do business with no sidewalk," he said. "It's a shame it wasn't better coordinated."

Arnold said the Marriott University Park Hotel, 880 E. Second St., which opened Dec. 1, has helped his business, and he expects being next door to national chains will also help business. He said he expects Bath and Body Works will have difficulty doing business at first because of the vacant store spaces next to it and the lack of sidewalks.

Bath and Body Works customers must walk on the street and use a wooden ramp to cross the construction area in front of the new building.

"I don't think anyone will be there for a month. You have to walk in the street to get in there," Arnold said.