Thrills at the Mills/ Colorado Mills complex offers more than

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Dec 7, 2002 by LINDA DuVAL

LAKEWOOD - OK, it's a mall, but it's not quite like any other mall you've ever shopped. Not around these parts, anyway.

Colorado Mills, the $300 million shopping and entertainment complex that opened recently in Lakewood, has a little bit of everything: outlet stores, value-priced shopping at high-end stores, boutiques, major retail anchor stores, a Super Target and lots of dining and entertainment options, including a theater complex.

The parent company, Mills Corp., trademarked the descriptive term "shoppertainment" for its projects.

What other mall has a 40,000-square-foot indoor skate park? A children's play area based on a storybook's characters? A massive entertainment complex such as Jillian's - a 63,000-square-foot space with bowling alleys and a pool hall with video games and a roomy sports bar with giant TVs?

It's the only mall in the state with its own police station and television studio. There are 128 security cameras scanning the mall and its 6,000-space parking lots at all times.

"We've built a small city here," said Dennis McGovern, general manager. "We have to make sure it's a safe place to be."

People were so eager to see it, 75,000 shoppers came on opening day, Nov. 14. Just less than 300,000 visited opening weekend over four days, McGovern said.

A lot of first-time visitors weren't sure what the mall was all about.

"We aren't a true outlet. We're a hybrid," McGovern said.

The mall is designed to fit Colorado's ambience. The four major areas have seasonal themes: spring, summer, fall and winter, with appropriate color schemes and decor.

"When you have a property this big, it's important to break it up, visually, to keep it from getting monotonous," McGovern said.

The mall features 60,000 square feet of hardwood floors in the public areas - rock maple and Brazilian cherry, as easy on the eyes as on the feet.

Speaking of feet, shoppers who get foot-weary can relax in the public rocking chairs or kick back in a massage chair.

With a dozen anchor stores and 200 specialty stores spread over 100 acres, it's going to take time to cover it all. The racetrack- style floor plan makes it easy to access all stores (all entrances on one level), and if you walk the whole thing (without side trips into stores), it's seven-eighths of a mile.

The mall features stores you might not have seen in the region. For example, it's the only place in the state you'll find a Last Call Clearance Center from Nieman Marcus. St. Croix, which sells men's wear, opened its first outlet store at the mall. For footwear fans, there's Colorado's first Kenneth Cole New York outlet and Tod's first value store in the state.

Specialty stores range from fashion eyeglasses to a shop called Primarily Purple, which sells, well, only purple things.

Kids can design teddy bears at the Build-A-Bear Workshop, which opens soon, and mom can find her favorite scent at Perfumania.

"This is the best mall in Colorado," said Mike Turner of Winter Park, who this week spun coins into a wishing well to entertain his preschooler, Abby. "There's so much to do here, especially for kids."

Visitors can find dozens of places to grab a snack or a bite of lunch, including the food court, which looks a bit like an outdoor picnic area and seats 1,000 diners.

Sit-down restaurants include Chili's Too and California Pizza Kitchen. Several more are scheduled to open in coming months, including Tucano's Brazilian Grill and the Yard House, which serves yards of beer.

It's a place parents can bring children, assured there's something to keep them entertained.

In A Place to Grow, based on Stephanie Bloom's book, youngsters can play while parents relax.

Brandi Kotrc brought her toddler twice.

"Most of the stores are a little expensive for me," she said. "We just come here to play."

A market survey by the International Council of Shopping Centers, the trade association of the shopping center industry, shows the average shopper spends 90 minutes in a mall. The survey found Mills shoppers tend to stay an average of 31/2 hours, McGovern said.

"It's partly because we have a lot of stores, but it's also because shoppers are comfortable here, and there's a lot more to do besides shop."

"Some people have said this place is like Cherry Creek and Castle Rock (outlet shops) had a head-on accident," he said. "All I know is, there are a helluva lot of stores here," said Don Jackson of Arvada, who relaxed in a massage chair while his wife visited nearby stores. "I'm just glad there's a place to sit down."

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0371 or duval@gazette.com

MALL FACTS

GETTING THERE: Colorado Mills is at 14500 W. Colfax Ave. From Colorado Springs, take Interstate 25 north into downtown Denver and then take the Sixth Avenue (U.S. Highway 6) exit and go west to Indiana Street and turn north. It's a few blocks north on your right.

HOURS: 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sundays

REACH THEM: Call (303) 384-3000 or log on to www.coloradomills.com. Included on the Web site is a complete list of stores and other helpful information for first-time visitors.