After sitting idle for months, the corner location at Sansom Common is set to be filled by Smith Bros. Jeans, a trendy clothing store.
The new store, which will open on Oct. 5 at 3661 Walnut St., will fill the void left by Ma Jolie, the upscale women's clothier which shut down in May. Ma Jolie had been part of the retail complex since the fall of 1999.
Smith Bros. will sport such brand names as Diesel, Buffalo and Kenneth Cole and will cater mainly to women ages 15 to 25.
"I am completely confident in Smith Brothers," said John Greenwood, a top official for the University's real estate company, Trammell Crow. "I think they're geared towards a younger market."
The store will carry mainly women's clothes, but it will also have some men's clothes.
Smith Bros. specializes in jeans, but also offers t-shirts, jackets, sweaters and accessories. According to the store's online catalog, prices for jeans range from $52 to $146, but most jeans are priced around $100.
Observers have said that Ma Jolie struggled, in part, because its high-end women's fashions attracted a very small niche of the Penn community. While Smith Bros. appeals to a slightly larger market -- a goal of Penn real estate officials -- some students still say the store's high prices and somewhat limited fare makes them skeptical.
"From the sound of it, I'm not sure," College junior Lara Bonner said. "From when last I checked, Diesel and Mavis were expensive jeans."
But other students say they are eager to see the new store open on campus.
"I'll definitely go check it out," College sophomore Andrea Bauza said. "It's so nice having stores on campus, because the only other way of getting [clothes] is going downtown or to King of Prussia."
Rather than worrying about the approaching competition, nearby store owners welcomed the opening of Smith Bros.
"I think it would be a benefit to us because it would bring more business to the area," Gap store manager Jason Smith said.
Steve Madden manager Nicki Willis agreed.
"I'm particularly happy about it," she said. "If their price points aren't too high, then they'll be successful."
But Willis predicted that if Smith Bros.' clothes were priced too high, the store might have trouble surviving on Walnut Street -- like their predecessor, Ma Jolie.
Some students thought Ma Jolie only serviced a very small portion of the population and was not able to lure enough students in.
"It was expensive and the clothes were like old people clothes," Engineering sophomore Lillian Wang said.
"I just didn't really like the style," College sophomore Leeann Chen said. "It was very like trendy, yuppie-ish. It was like a boutique."
Greenwood said it was difficult to pinpoint the reason for Ma Jolie's failure.
"It's hard to say why things didn't go as well as they hoped," he said, adding that the corporate retail sector has been especially affected by slowing economic growth. "The women's apparel industry across the board has been hit."
But many remain optimistic that Smith Bros. will be popular with students.
"It looks better than Ma Jolie," College sophomore Jill Goldberg said. "It looks like they'll have cool stuff in there."
