NEWS

Packerland Plus to leave Wausau Center

Laura Schulte
USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin
Packerland Plus is the latest store to move from Wausau Center mall. They will close at the end of September.

WAUSAU - The Green Bay Packers gear store, Packerland Plus, is preparing to move from the Wausau Center mall.

The store will be moving to the Weston Marketplace, located on the corner of Camp Phillips Road and Schofield Avenue in Weston. It is the second store to leave this month, following Taco John's being evicted for unpaid rent.

"We're mainly doing it just because traffic has gone down," said store manager Michelle Zajichek.

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Zajichek also said that getting in contact with CBL & Associates Properties, the former owners of the mall, to renew their lease had been difficult, which led them to looking for other spaces.

Packerland Plus is a Packers superstore, selling T-shirts, sweatshirts, stickers, flags and more, all sporting the Green Bay green and gold. The store also offers up other gear sporting Bucky badger from the University of Wisconsin. The store has called the mall home for the last seven years.

Packerland Plus is the Wausau area's one-stop shop for any Packers or University of Wisconsin gear.

The Wausau Center mall underwent a change in management this summer, after CBL turned the mall over to its lenders. The mall is now owned by Rialto Capital Management of Florida and managed by Mid-America Asset Management.

"Even though Mid-America has taken over, it's still going to take a while to get things figured out," said Packerland Plus sales associate Joan Joss. "That area in Weston is going to be an up and coming and prospering area."

Joss said that she has worked in the mall at least part-time for the last 20 years, and she's seen a change in the recent years.

"People used to be happy to come to the mall," she said. "Now I talk to people who haven't been here in years."

Zajichek said that when JC Penney shuttered its doors in 2014, it dealt a great blow to the small store located in the same wing. There was hope when the mall announced that Younker's would be relocating the old Penney's spot, but when the mall was given back to lenders, that hope was dashed.

To combat the waning foot traffic, Packerland Plus will be closing its doors in Wausau Center on Sept. 30. Zajichek hopes that the new store in Weston will be open by Oct. 6.

Contact Going Out reporter Laura Schulte at 715-297-7532 or leschulte@gannett.com; on Twitter @schultelaura.