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To serve the region's military veterans, a new Veterans Administration Community Based Outpatient Clinic is scheduled to open inside Ohio Valley Mall this coming spring.
At 16,000 square feet, this state-of-the-art medical facility will be nearly twice the size of the current VA clinic located in St. Clairsville. The new clinic will be staffed by professionals who will provide primary care services, telehealthcare, laboratory, radiology and additional specialty medical services.
The clinic will be open Monday-Friday and closed on all federal holidays. The clinic will be located across from Ulta Beauty inside the mall near Sears.
Official say the arrival of the VA clinic will not be the only big change at Ohio Valley Mall this year. Information released by mall Marketing Director Candi Noble-Greathouse states that new agreements are being finalized with other business entities that plan on offering new and popular products to the local community.
Joe Bell, spokesman for Cafaro Co. which owns the mall, said details about these new offerings will be forthcoming in the near future.
Word that new businesses will be opening at the mall has been eagerly awaited by area residents and Belmont County leaders. Over the past couple of years, several mall stores have closed their doors as national retailers have faced financial difficulties, including bankruptcy filings. Among the stores that have closed are Kmart, hh gregg, Elder-Beerman, MC Sports, Things Remembered and others. Most recently, Kitchen Collection and Andrews Jewelers announced earlier this month that they were going out of business.
Bell said Sears, the oldest store at the mall, will remain open after filing bankruptcy in October. Bell said there has been no word that the store will be leaving the mall any time soon.
According to the Associated Press, Eddie Lampert, the company's chairman and largest shareholder, won a bankruptcy auction which has averted the liquidation of Sears. Lampert is going to keep 400 stores open, which will save thousands of jobs, but 4,000 stores were open at the chain's peak in 2012.
To fill some of the void left by the departure of Elder-Beerman, Marshalls opened a location at the Ohio Valley Mall in 2017. Another recent addition is the large Tilt Studio arcade, which features miniature golf and laser tag. The large space that housed Kmart remains vacant, but Bell has said two businesses may soon open in that area.