By KAREN MIKOLS

kmikols@dailynews.net

In one short week, Stage will be open in The Mall.

"We unloaded 1,200 cartons of freight and moved it into the store by department," store manager Pat Rinke said. "You can see where it's slowly starting to come together and starting to look like a store."

The first shipment of merchandise arrived Monday.

"The employees are excited about (the merchandise) they were opening," Rinke said. "People are chomping at the bit for Estee Lauder and Clinique."

The store hired 40 employees to get up and running, then will keep 15 employees after the opening.

"The thing that's impressed me about the store and town is the work ethic," said John McKellar, regional vice president of Stage. "In Arkansas last month, we hired 50, and about half showed up. Here, they all showed up."

The location at The Mall in Hays is the sixth Kansas location, and about the 700th location nationwide.

A soft opening will occur from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday, with 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. hours May 1 to 3 and noon to 6 p.m. hours May 4.

The store is a sea of beige and browns, completely remodeled from the former Kline's store that occupied the same location.

"We had to demo the existing interior and remodel, re-carpet and re-tile," McKellar said.

The store will carry women's, petite, plus, kids, juniors, men's and young men's, as well as shoes and perfume and makeup lines.

"The attitude at hotels, restaurants, mall walkers and the mall management -- they've all been very cordial and have accepted us tremendously," McKellar said.

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The Mall faced the closing of two anchor stores within a few months in 2007 when Kline's closed, followed by Midwest Drug.

"Every few years, you read about the death of malls," said Mike Michaelis, executive director of the Ellis County Coalition for Economic Development. "But they always find a way to come back and make things work."

Once Stage opens, the mall will be at 80 percent occupancy, with stores such as 1904 Clothing and Short Go opening within the last six months.

"The new owners are a fill 'em up, the ones before that were not," Michaelis said. "It's tough to fill a mall in today's retail environment, but I know they're working on it. They're working hard."

So hard, in fact, that barely six months after Kline's closed, it was announced Stage would open.

"It's impressive they could put something together in that short of time," Michaelis said. "The management worked very hard to secure that anchor."

Nichole Deiser, marketing director for The Mall, said filling the spaces is a priority.

"They're starting to find something for Gulliver's," Deiser said.

"They're starting the leasing process for that. Another is waiting on a final draft of the lease."

And Dial Co., the Mall's property manager, aggressively is pursuing businesses to fill the entire space Midwest Drug vacated.

* * *

At 8:45 a.m. May 1, Stage formally will open to the public with a ribbon cutting.

Then, it's time to get down to business -- or shopping.

"This will give more of a variety for shopping in Hays," Rinke said.

"There are some major name brands people will recognize when they walk into the store."