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The skin care store will settle between Target and Publix in the shopping center.
By SHARON L. BOND, Neighborhood Times Business Editor
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 24, 2002
ST. PETERSBURG -- Bath & Body Works, the chain that says it has a product to care for skin on every inch of the body, will open a store Thursday at Gateway Market Center on Dr. M.L. King (Ninth) Street N. The chain already has a store in the Tyrone Square Mall. The new one will be a bit different.
"It will be a white store, with a whiter, cleaner environment," said spokeswoman Barbara Jorgensen.
"The products are pretty colorful. The existing stores have oak and wood paneling interiors. We decided to let the products be the heroes so it will be less confusing visually."
Jorgensen said the chain was putting this store away from a traditional, covered mall such as Tyrone Square in order to give customers a choice.
"There are people that prefer that setup to a mall," she said of Gateway. "You can drive right up to the store and park."
The new Bath & Body Works is toward the back of Gateway between anchors Target and Publix and adjacent to Party City. The chain is based in Columbus, Ohio, and has 1,500 stores across the country.
Company literature says products give customers a spalike experience in their own homes. The chain offers several lines of skin care and fragrances for women and men and includes an aromatherapy collection and specialty products such as glittery shower gel. It also prepares gift baskets.