This age of the internet continues to send department stores into oblivion. 

It’s leaving malls a skeleton of what they used to be, and that includes here in the Quad Cities.

To help fill that space, managers of SouthPark Mall in Moline isn’t turning to big name stores but local small businesses. 

When Local Four and Fox 18 News walked through the mall, nearly ten storefronts were seen with gates down, and nothing inside and that’s not including Younkers with its going out of business banner up and the remodel to add Ashley Furniture.

Those empty storefronts have SouthPark hoping local entrepreneurs will be the key to keep people coming to the mall. 

One local business that made the move said it’s already paid off.

Business has some more sparkle at Fat Dad Custom Designs.

Owner Todd Downing said, “There’s great foot traffic that comes through here. From where we were before to now, it’s probably five, tenfold [increase] easily.”

The custom apparel and gift shop has been calling SouthPark Mall home since May, after outgrowing their stand-alone store in Moline.

Downing said, “Started just doing decals, lettering for race cars. My kid actually named it when we were trying to come up with a name. When you let a six-year-old name it, your fat and you’re my dad, so we became Fat Dad, and we’ve been that way for ten years.”

But it’s a move owner Todd Downing said he wishes he made sooner after seeing the impact on the business.

“We work with a couple of the other businesses, local ones here that are in the mall and we do designs and shirts and stuff for them, so we exchange business back and forth.” Downing said, “We’re kind of our own little community down here.”

It’s the direction the mall says they’re looking to go, after starting this effort more than three months ago.

North and SouthPark Malls Specialty Leasing Manager Deanna Printy said,  “There’s a lot of changing going on right now, with retail, with everybody buying online. With, you know, stores going in and out.”

For Downing, customers still want that tangible experience of a store. 

Downing said, “We get a lot of people that come in that didn’t get what they were promised online, and that’s where we kind of step in.”

Downing said that’s what he’s providing with an investment in the local community. 

Downing said, “Some of the bigger box stores, you’re just dealing with a store manager, you don’t have an owner you’re necessarily dealing with. We have more control over what happens here.”

Management of the mall tell Local Four and Fox 18 News, they’re looking for a variety of small business options to come to the shopping center, and it’s not just shops.

They said the businesses could include fitness, chiropractic or medical services and activity based.

SouthPark managers also tell us they’ve had interest from established businesses looking to expand or move, but are also welcoming new businesses.

To learn more, contact Printy at 536-391-6773.