-July 7,2022-
Tilly’s is latest store to fill-in SLO center
Madonna Plaza is recovering from the retail shakeout that Covid 19 wrought nationwide and in San Luis Obispo. A few years ago Sears left the center making room for new retail spaces and attracting both Ross and Michaels – relocated from other parts of town and now open. The latest news is that teen retailer Tilly’s is filling the last space that used to be part of Sears next to Michaels with construction of a new 6500 sf store. Commercial realtor Phillip Kyle confirmed that Tilly’s will open here but the timetable is not known.The Tilly’s logo is all on Kyle’s company website site plan next to Michael’s. This addition follows the backfilling of the Petco building that was vacated by the pet store with tenant improvements by Party City and Five Below well underway. Both are new to town.
Also new in the center – Dave’s Hot Chicken is open where the pandemic prompted Panera Bread to close their doors last year. All these new tenants including Tilly’s target SLOs younger shoppers.
Tilly’s is a publicly-traded specialty retailer of casual apparel, footwear and accessories for young men, young women, boys and girls with an extensive assortment of branded merchandise. The California -based company is headquartered in Irvine They currently operate 244 total stores across 33 states.The closest Tilly’s is in Santa Maria.
The company started out as World of Jeans and Tops in 1982.The first retail store was in Los Alamitos, Calif. Selling jeans to distributors T Hezy Shaked co-founded the store. According to the website Business News Bill in 1992 they opened their first clothing store named Tilly’s, ironically in San Luis Obispo that later closed.
Rendering shows marketing piece for storefront next to Michaels
Site plan of center shows Tilly’s store location next to Michaels