GRANDVILLE, Mich. (GRPW) -- RiverTown Crossings Mall in Grandville will open at least six new retail and entertainment businesses in the coming months, according to an announcement posted this week. The mall, about eight miles southwest of downtown Grand Rapids, has seen foot traffic thin since its late-1990s heyday, and the new tenants represent a bet that smaller, experience-driven stores can fill the gaps left by departing department-store anchors.

The incoming lineup leans heavily on small, specialty retailers. SNACK'D, a treat shop selling items from more than 40 countries alongside homemade creations that went viral online, will take one of the new spaces. Summit Comics and Games, a Lansing-based shop catering to fans of comic books, trading cards, board games, and Funko Pops, will expand into its first location outside the state capital.

On the entertainment side, Kako Claw, an arcade and claw-machine destination stocked with collectible prizes, plush animals, and anime characters, will open in the mall. Throw It Back, a mobile dirty-soda bar serving non-alcoholic drinks, will open its first-ever permanent retail store at RiverTown Crossings. The brand also hosts birthday parties and private events, the kind of experiential draw that mall owners across the country have chased as traditional retail shrinks.

Cell Repair Xpert, a national phone-and-gadget repair chain, will plant its first West Michigan location in the mall. Katie's Heart & Home, a Christmas store based in Coopersville that sells decorations, subscription boxes, and holiday gifts year-round, will open a second storefront there.

The mall has been open since November 1999. JCPenney remains its anchor tenant. The property changed hands in August 2024 when Poag Development Group purchased it from Brookfield Properties for an undisclosed sum. Poag said at the time that it intended to modernize and revitalize the space, adding mixed-use features and extra parking.

The six new tenants are the most visible sign yet that the new owner is working toward those goals. The strategy mirrors what has worked at a handful of malls nationwide: swap out vacant department-store boxes for a mix of local retailers, entertainment venues, and service businesses that give shoppers a reason to visit that online retailers cannot replicate.

Exact opening dates for all six businesses have not been announced. Poag has also talked about mixed-use features and additional parking, but specifics beyond the tenant announcements are limited. The purchase price from Brookfield Properties was never disclosed.

For the shoppers and small-business owners of Grandville and greater Grand Rapids, the six new storefronts are a modest but concrete sign that a private owner is still investing in the property. Whether the new tenants can meaningfully reverse the mall's years-long decline remains to be seen.