Mayor of the Mall
Johannes at the helm of growing Everett retail hub

By Kimberly Hilden
SCBJ Assistant Editor

In the retail industry, shopping trends may fluctuate; consumer preferences may vacillate; and merchandisers may rotate in and out of the market, but there are certainties to be counted on, most notably:

• The day after Thanksgiving will be among the busiest shopping days of the year (followed closely by the day after the day after Thanksgiving).
• No matter what the calendar says, summer officially begins with the Memorial Day weekend sales and ends with the Labor Day weekend sales.
• And in Snohomish County, Linda Johannes will be a welcoming presence at the Everett Mall, where she has been part of the management team for the past 26 years, 16 of those as general manager.

“Truly, no two days are ever the same,” Johannes said of her role at the shopping center, which has more than 100 shops and services.

Snohomish County Business Journa l /KIMBERLY HILDEN “How many women get paid to be in a shopping center every day — or go look at other shopping centers?” Everett Mall General Manager Linda Johannes said jokingly of her career.

“It’s like being the mayor of a small city. You have your public safety, which is security; public works, maintenance and housekeeping; public relations, which is marketing; leasing; finance,” she said, noting that she has “one of the finest management staffs of any center in the Northwest” to help her get the job done.

Together, Johannes and her crew have been overseeing a number of big changes to their “small city” during the past two years, including more than $30 million in renovations and expansion that have included construction of The Village, a 100,000-square-foot retail hub just west of the mall’s main building.

There also have been renovations to the interior of the mall as well as updated exterior signage that “embrace the heritage of Snohomish County,” Johannes said of the use of warm earth tones, wood and rock that symbolize the area’s rock quarry and lumber industries.

New stores that have opened in that time include Best Buy, Bed Bath & Beyond, Sleep Country USA, PetSmart and Quiznos Sub in The Village as well as Old Navy and Borders in the mall’s 673,000-square-foot main building.

“We’re about a little over halfway through,” Johannes said of the mall’s makeover, which will include relocation and expansion of retailer Zumiez as well as bringing in new retailers and filling up the 117,000-square-foot space being vacated by Mervyns early next year.

Then there’s the 65,000-square-foot, 16-screen Regal Cinemas movie theater. Located on the southwest side of the mall where the former Rite Aid store had been, the theater “is expected to open during the upcoming Memorial Day weekend,” she said.

Through it all, Johannes has found herself juggling the need to be a part of the construction process and the need to be in touch with and of service to the mall’s merchants and customers.

Johannes: From stage to mall Linda Johannes wasn’t always in retail, or in the business world, for that matter. Before she moved to the Puget Sound region, the self-described “Iowa farm girl” was a high school speech and drama teacher in the Midwest. During the summer, she was a professional actress for summer stock. It was during those summers that she learned the basics of business, discovering that she could make better money working on the business side of the stage and becoming a business manager for several different summer stock companies while continuing to perform. It was during a visit to her in-laws in the Pacific Northwest that she fell in love with the area — and knew it was where she wanted to live. After five years of saving her money for the big move, Johannes relocated to the Puget Sound area — deciding to start a new career, one focused on business. She became the general manager for a large real estate company in Seattle before answering a blind “help wanted” ad in the Herald newspaper. “The ad asked for people with good management, business and office skills,” Johannes said. It was for the assistant general manager position at the Everett Mall. The rest is history. — Kimberly Hilden, SCBJ Assistant Editor

“That has probably been my greatest challenge. ... The merchants got used to me in a hard hat, vest and boots,” she said, smiling.

Johannes credits the mall’s ownership, Newport Beach, Calif.-based Steadfast Cos., with investing its time and money into rejuvenating the shopping center, which the company bought in June 2004.

Prior to that, the mall was owned by New York-based Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, which acquired the mall in mid-2001 when its former ownership group of Titanic Associates, Hindenburg Associates and Normandy Associates defaulted on a loan.

The late 1990s were lean times for the mall, said Johannes, who was known as the “queen of duct tape and Super Glue” because “the mall just did not have the money to put into the property.”

But that has changed, thanks to Steadfast, and Johannes said she is overjoyed to be able to make improvements for the mall’s loyal customers. “They’ve been waiting such a long time. It’s been wonderful to finally make changes to the mall.”

Just as wonderful is the fact that Steadfast cares about investing in the community the mall serves, she said, noting that company officials regularly participate in chamber events and community golf tournaments.

“Steadfast not only supports community involvement, they encourage it,” said Johannes, who has been giving back to the community for years through participation in such groups as the Everett Area Chamber of Commerce, Camp Fire USA, Sound Transit and Everett Transit and as a member of Everett’s All-America City Committee.

As a board member for the Everett chamber for nearly 15 years, Johannes has “been a huge asset, being the corporate memory for the board,” said Louise Stanton-Masten, the chamber’s president and chief executive.

“I’ve known Linda for 5-1/2 years, and what impresses me about her is her dedication, passion and support for Naval Station Everett,” Stanton-Masten said.

Johannes, chair of the chamber’s Navy Affairs Committee, has put that support into action, most recently with an April chamber luncheon, “A Dozen Years of Dedication,” to celebrate the naval station’s 12th anniversary and honor the people who work and volunteer their time to make the station a success.

For Johannes, the work to support Naval Station Everett is fulfillment of an oath that the chamber, community and all its members made when they campaigned for the station so many years ago: to welcome and embrace station personnel “not only now, but in all the years to come.”

That welcoming attitude also is apparent in the way she views the Everett Mall, which holds community events throughout the year, from mall-walker breakfasts and photo shoots with Santa Claus to flower shows and car sales.

“Our real title is a regional community mall, and we wear that proudly,” Johannes said.

For more information about the Everett Mall, go online to www.everettmall.org.

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