A Montana mall gets another chance

An empty retail space in the Butte Plaza Mall in Butte, Montana, will soon be open for business. But instead of bringing in another store, the mall is welcoming a call center to the space formally occupied by a J.C. Penney. The mall lost both J.C. Penney and department store Herberger’s as part of the retail slump seen in malls across the country. Alana Ferko manages the Butte Plaza Mall. She spoke with Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal about filling the space and adapting to the changing retail industry.

“If there’s one thing that retailers do, it’s that we adapt,” Ferko said. “If you don’t adapt, you’ll go the way of the dinosaur.” 

Click the audio player above to hear the full interview.

Correction (Jan. 16, 2019): A previous version of this story misspelled Alana Ferko’s name in the caption. The text has been corrected.