There have been many closings and openings since University Mall in Carbondale opened in the 1970s. But recently, openings are on the rise.

Debra Tindall has been the University Mall general manager for the past 16 years and said this is one of the mall’s best years in terms of how many businesses are in operation.

Tindall said 2005 was the store’s best year during her 16 years, but once Steve & Barry’s closed in 2008, the company closed all of its stores nationwide, and many other stores at the mall followed suit. She said the economy had a lot to do with store closures.

Advertisement

The Wall Street Journal reported 100 malls closed in 2009, compared to 40 in 2006 .

Though times were tough University Mall did not close.

Tindall said this year, the mall has about the same number of businesses it had in 2005. Within the last two years, eight stores opened, including Justice, the Children’s Place, Things Remembered, Ulta Beauty, Lane Bryant, Maurices, the Cookie Store, and Rogers & Hollands. Earthbound expanded its store, and Kidz Play Zone opened November 6th of this year.

Kidz Play Zone is owned by husband and wife Ibrahima and Yavone Coulibaly. Ibrahima came to the Carbondale area from Africa to attend school at SIU. Here he met his wife Yavone, originally from Galesburg, who was also attending SIU.

Yavone Coulibaly said she and Ibrahima have three children, ages three, eight and nine. She said opening Kidz Play Zone had been a plan of theirs for about four years because they could never find a place in Carbondale such as Kidz Play Zone for their own children.

“We have been wanting to open this … about four years,” Coulibaly said. “Now my son just started pre-k and my daughters are a little more independent, so we thought it would be a great time to put that plan … into action.”

Kidz Play Zone is open for families to play with their children. There is an air hockey table and a foosball table at the front of the store, and to one corner there are five televisions hooked up to Wii consoles.

Advertisement*

There are inflatables, an obstacle course and a play area for children four and younger that includes a jungle slide and toys.

Another part of the setup are the three playrooms. There is a construction room, a physician room and a kitchen room. Some rooms have toys, some have costumes and all have informational books.

The informational books in each room teach children about the playroom theme. In the construction room there is a book to teach children how to identify different tools, in the physician room there is an instruction book on identifying anatomy and a giant set of teeth. The kitchen room has actual recipes to instruct children on cooking and healthy diets.

The back of Kidz Play Zone has a table and television and vending machines, as well as computers with parental locks. There is a baby-changing station and a room for private parties.

Kidz Play Zone will also help Black Friday shoppers on Thanksgiving. They will be open 8 p.m. until 11 p.m., and Friday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m..