New retail options available, coming soon to East El Paso

An East El Paso shopping center that sat vacant for years after its main tenants moved less than a mile away into the Fountains at Farah is bustling once again.

The Viscount Village Shopping Center on the corner of Viscount and Gateway West Boulevards has three new shops. Ross Dress for Less opened its eighth location in the shopping center earlier this year. Hobby Lobby Arts & Crafts Stores held its grand opening last week, making this the retailer’s third location in El Paso.

“I like it! I live near here and going to the west side for Hobby Lobby — too far. Zaragoza, too. Right here, just right,” one woman told ABC-7 as she walked from Ross to Hobby Lobby.

The shopping center had sat empty for so long because Best Buy and Barnes & Noble Booksellers were still paying the rent on their leases, said Jennifer Reynolds, a representative of the Retail Connection. Retail Connection owns the three large spaces in Viscount Village that were occupied by Best Buy, B&N and TigerDirect.com. Tiger Direct ended up closing its brick and mortar locations nationwide in 2013.

“There was a lot of interest in the property,” Reynolds said. “There was just a huge demand. There could have been 10 different deals there. We picked the ones we wanted.”

The newest retailer is Tuesday Morning, which has had a location on El Paso’s westside since the 1970s.

“Tuesday Morning has revamped (its) entire inventory system, so their inventory is upscale and nice at a discounted price,” Reynolds said.

A sign posted on the sliding glass door announced that Tuesday Morning would be opening on Friday, March 18.

Shoppers told ABC-7 that they’re eager for it to open.

“I’ll bring my wife. She’ll do the buying and I’ll do the spending,” Hector Rojo said, laughing.