Cortana’s local tenants frustrated, nervous as national retailers pack up

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For tenants like Basil Hasan, manager of Hip Hop Fashion, losing Sears could mean the difference between viability and closure. After Macy’s closed last year, his sales dropped about 25%. He’s not sure he can afford to lose another 25%—or more.

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“We’ll stay as long as I’m eating,” he says. “But it will be risky.”

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Joseph Toma is worried, too. The owner of the T-Shirt Factory, which makes customized T-shirts, is the longest surviving independent retailer in the mall. His store opened in 1982, when Cortana was just five years old and was the biggest retail game in the market. Back then, there was a waiting list to get in, he recalls. Now, whole storefronts are vacant and one of his silk screen artists has taken it upon herself to water the tree in the mall atrium outside their door so it doesn’t die.

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“They’re cutting back on maintenance, security, everything,” he says.

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Local tenants say they’re tired of talk. Shoaib Mojy has owned and operated a jewelry cart in the mall since 2001. Over the years, he has seen his business gradually dry up. On good days, he might sell $40 or $50 worth of jewelry. On many days, he doesn’t sell anything.

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“I don’t know how much longer I can afford to stay,” he says. “We’ll just have to see.”

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