After years of anticipation, The Mall at University Town Center this week will hold its grand opening. Some retailers have already held special events in the new $315-million facility, and come Thursday morning, all shoppers will be free to roam the new Taubman Centers shopping destination on University Parkway.

"The Mall at University Town Center offers a unique choice of distinctive merchants and dining experiences tailored to the lifestyles of this dynamic market's residents and visitors," said William S. Taubman, chief operating officer for Taubman Centers. "We've created an exciting, engaging physical environment that connects with people and further distinguishes the center as the region's premier shopping destination."

Of course, many have also wondered what effect the mall will have on existing retail. There has been a flow of stores already out of other retail centers and into the mall, but Sarasota city officials commissioned a study that shows that long-term, the opening of the mall shouldn't hurt the major centers of commerce within the city limits.

"For a short period of time, the mall will get a lot of attention," said Norm Gollub, Sarasota downtown economic development coordinator. "But once the dust settles, I anticipate the amenities downtown will continue to draw people." 

From speaking with national retail consultant Robert Gibbs, Gollub is hopeful the mall will actually help with another problem: retail leakage. That is, there are no malls in Sarasota right now with the same scope of offerings that UTC plans to showcase, and many shoppers living in this market have historically driven to properties such as the Taubman-owned International Plaza in Tampa. More than half the stores in UTC are new to the Sarasota market, but many of those, such as H&M, Apple and The Cheescake Factory are at International Plaza. "Because of the variety of stores, I anticipate many shoppers will remain in our area," Gollub said.

Some locales are picking up stakes and moving to the new mall. Saks Fifth Avenue closed its Westfield Southgate location last week and will re-open this week in a new 80,000-square-foot space at UTC. That's more than twice the space the retailer boasted at Southgate, according to Saks spokeswoman Sally Schule. She said the new mall, located just off Interstate-75, changes the nature of the local Saks from a business catering to locals and a set of tourists attracted specifically to the barrier islands to a location reaching a wider geographic market. "We think we will bring people from St. Petersburg all the way to Venice," she said. "Now we are more of a regional destination."

To stress the significance of the new mall, some of the biggest retail names in the world this week convene upon Sarasota. Schulle said Saks Fifth Avenue president Marigay McKee  will attend the ribbon-cutting event Thursday morning, which also features a musical performance by String Theory. Robert Taubman, president and CEO of Taubman Centers, will be here for a media and charity event on Wednesday night when many VIPs will get their first full tour of the mall.  The mall also has attracted a number of retail people to open first-time standalone locations, including sunglass designer Edward Beiner and Italian notebook company Moleskin.

And the mall thus far has been proven extremely popular even before the official opening of its doors. Macy's held a charity shopping event on Saturday and Saks has a sold-out charity event Tuesday. The grand opening for the mall is Thursday.