Dillard’s to open South Dakota’s first store in The Empire Mall next week
Spanning more than 140,000 square feet, 40,000 square feet more than the previous Yonkers store in The Empire Mall in Sioux Falls, Dillard's has been “renovated to feature the latest advances in store design, technology and merchandising,” according to information pamphlets handed out at a beind the scenes media tour Wednesday.
The new Dillard’s store, the first one in South Dakota, was first announced in December 2018 and has been long anticpated amid several delays between 2019 and 2023. Wednesday's tour was a glance ahead of the grand opening celebration set to take place March 6. Yonkers closed in August 2018.
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The celebration will be in partnership with the Washington Pavilion, with the ribbon-cutting ceremony starting at 10:30 a.m. at the store’s mall entrance. The ribbon-cutting ceremony will include Dillard’s Senior Vice President Bill Dillard III, Senior Vice President and Principal Financial Officer Chris Johnson and Regional Vice President of Stores Mark Galvan.
The first 300 customers will be given a mystery gift card with amounts between $10 and $500 to use on that day itself, with 10% of net sales from the day being donated to the Pavilion.
However, for shoppers eager to go check out the store this week, there will be a soft opening 11 a.m. Friday.
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Located at 4001 W 41st Street in western Sioux Falls, the store has been divided into 20 sections. Dillard's will focus on “delivering style, quality and value to Sioux Falls area customers by offering premium fashion apparel, beauty and home collections from both national and exclusive brand sources,” read the pamphlet.
“We just received such a warm welcome from Sioux Falls,” said Amy Yonkers, the assistant store manager. “I think that we will fill quite a void with the brands that we carry. And, we’ve just been so happy with everyone’s reception of us.”
The first stop of the tour was their expansive women’s shoes section, which houses about 50,000 pairs of shoes from national and exclusive brands. This section has been designed in a way to seamlessly “transition from luxury to comfortland,” said Vanessa VanEckhoutte, the store manager. The men’s shoes section, while equally interesting, is home to a slightly less enormous number.
VanEckhoutte introduced Dillard's junior department, which is home to a wide assortment of prom dresses, saying they will be providing in-house alterations for the dresses. This department has outdone itself in terms of aesthetic and attention to details, with dresses in all sizes including petite as well as women’s sizes, she said.
VanEckhoutte said the store also has one of the largest assortments of baby gear in its children’s apparel section, including clothes and shoe brands for children. The best part is all fitting rooms are generously sized, she said.
The store also will include home and luggage departments, the place where VanEckhoutte said she initially started as a sales assistant, with lines of polished silverware arranged into place settings. These sections are closely set near the athleisure departments, where mannequins are placed in different yoga poses, while the young men’s department sees mannequins wearing abstract colors and designs.
The store will also showcase a thoughtfully curated jewelry department with services such as soldering, polishing and customizing of pendant stones, even when the customer does not buy them at Dillard’s. Sioux Falls shoppers can also look forward to having a choice of classic brands, such as like Gucci, in its handbags area.
The store will also highlighti art from photographer Jason Pfitzer next to the customer service area.
Dillard's, a mixture of popular brand labels as well as private labels, has hired more than 90 associates from the Sioux Falls community, according to the information pamphlet.
“We love all of our new hires, we have a great new team here,” Yonkers said. “So excited to be part of such an exciting time.”
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Dillard's doors officially open next week at The Empire Mall: What's to know
