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By Shawn P. Williams – Dallas South News Editor

It seems like Southwest Center Mall and I continue to be joined at the hip, and I’m not sure why.

Last Friday I attended a community meeting hosted by Ms. Edna Pemberton to welcome Jack Friedler of Jimmy Jazz to the Oak Cliff Community.  The meeting was held at the Concord Baptist Church across the street from the mall.  What a difference a couple of months make.

Jimmy Jazz Clothing and Shoes Website

A couple of months back when Ms. Pemberton first got word that “Jimmy Jazz” was interested in purchasing the mall, she was not happy.  A gentleman named David Bell had previously been interested in purchasing the mall, had been working with she and other members of the community to understand what they wanted.

I won’t go into detail, but I will hark back to a meeting that Ms. Pemberton called that was held in Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson’s office.  Mr. Bell was there, a representative from Friendship-West, a former city council candidate, and potential mall partners who are interested in opening a sports complex.  The tone of the meeting was anti-Jimmy Jazz because frankly we don’t know much about them here besides they are an “urban retailer.”  Sounds like more of the same for our struggling mall.

But I will never forget that Winsor Barbee, community advocate and publicity specialists, warned everyone not to overreact to the news.  She told us that in her travels to New York she was impressed with what Jimmy Jazz had to offer.  She suggested that if done right, this might be a good partnership.

So then came the community meeting in October (as reported on by Dallas South News) when Jack Friedler was first introduced as the new owner of Dallas South News.   You can read the story linked above about that.  It was a tense situation and Jimmy Jazz did not receive a warm welcome.

Prior to last Friday’s meeting, Ms. Pemberton traveled to New York to visit Jimmy Jazz retail outlets and get a first hand look at what we might expect in Dallas.  She came back singing a new tune.  “I didn’t sell out,” Ms. Pemberton assured the 30 or so people gathered in the pastor’s study at Concord as she conveyed how nice she thought the stores were.  In stark contrast to October, Ms. P was willing to work with Jack Friedler and Jimmy Jazz to make the mall better than it is today.

So I needed one more voice -in addition to Winsor previously and Ms. P recently- to see if I could get a handle on what was really going on.  As I Tweeted from the meeting, I saw posts from @AroundHarlem going across my Spaz feed.

Blog-Around Harlem is a national lifestyle magazine (online) with local event listings and in depth articles focusing on and highlighting Harlem, African Americans, Latinos and other People of Color.  It is published by April Davis who I met a couple of years ago at the Blogging While Brown Conference.  After exchanging a couple of direct messages, April agreed to speak with me over the phone about her thoughts on Jimmy Jazz’s presence in Harlem.

“They do their job well,” April said, noting the visual appeal of the Jimmy Jazz Harlem outlets.  “I haven’t heard anying bad about how they do business,” she said, in a no news is good news sort of way.  She says that she can recommend the quality of what they do in the community, specifically referencing a Baby Phat Fashion Show that had the support of the neighborhood.

Jimmy Jazz Oakland Mall, MI & Atlanta

April said that she doesn’t feel the clothes represent her retail interests, but that she sends her niece and nephew to Jimmy Jazz whenever they are in town to visit.  “They sell stuff in Harlem that you can’t get anywhere else.”  She went on to say that Jimmy Jazz built their business on urban brands but that it is “definitely not a flea market vibe.”

April admitted that the one question she would have about Jimmy Jazz is whether or not their offerings will be diverse enough for what our community is looking for.  Brands represented by Jimmy Jazz -like Penguin, Lacoste, Baby Phat, and Adidas- can be found in high end retailers.  But whether or not that high end merchandise makes it to Southwest Center Mall would be something to watch.

So April backed up what Ms. Pemberton said last week and what Winsor has said for months.  Whether or not this is the right fit for Southwest Center is still up in the air.  But it seems like residents can rest assured that we’re not “getting another Big T.” What we are getting is still a bit unclear.

On a final note, one positive thing that Freidler communicated last Friday was his commitment to the Southwest Center Mall ULI Study.  “That study is my Bible and my handbook,”Friedler said.  “Anyone who wants to understand what I am following,” he said, “should look at the study.”  Good news for those of us who figured the $120,000 spent on the study was a waste.