Tracy White has made a triumphant return home in recent weeks following a two year assignment that had her traveling more than an hour to work every day and an hour back home as she managed the Jimmy Jazz urban street wear store in Merrillville, Indiana from her home in Benton Harbor.
White had served as the Assistant Manager to the Jimmy Jazz store in the Orchards Mall until she drew the management training role at Merrillville. That was her grooming run to take over operations when Jimmy Jazz moved about six weeks ago from the mall to the Fairplain Plaza.
Now anchoring the space that had once been home to Rue 21, Jimmy Jazz has enjoyed a spectacular run since moving from the mall, and Tracy says traffic at the new store has been substantial, as have sales at the popular store which has been exclusively men’s fashions until the very near future when women’s fashions will be blended into the mix. That could have virtually any day now, as it was slated to happen by the end of June.
Located at 964 E. Napier Avenue in Suite D-6 at the Plaza, Jimmy Jazz features name brand urban fashions from Jordan, Nike, American Heritage, Polo, Champion and beyond. In addition to clothing, Jimmy Jazz features a wide array of foot wear among those brands and others.
Tracy says that the move from the Orchards Mall has been very uplifting now that the dark cloud of unpaid utility bills, uncertain climate conditions and other issues have faded into the past at the new site. Jimmy Jazz had first opened in the mall in the spring of 2012.
The bubbly store manager says, “Traffic has been really good, and we’ve seen a great spike in sales.” This week the store is hosting a summer clearance sale with at least 25-percent markdowns on a number of items in the store, as they make room for new arrivals, including the forthcoming influx of women’s fashions.
Tracy, who is a native of Benton Harbor says she’s happy to no longer have to deal with the long daily commute, and adds simply, “It’s good to be back home.”
The new Jimmy Jazz footprint is a larger, wider, more spacious store than they had at the Orchards Mall, and offers considerably larger storage space at the rear of the store, or as Tracy calls it, “More room to maneuver.”
Hours at the new Jimmy Jazz store run from 10am until 9pm every Monday through Saturday and Sundays from 11am until 6pm.
Tracy has 10 to 12 full and part time employees on her team, and invites everyone, “Come check us out, we’ve got a lot of cool things, and coming soon, women’s fashions as well.”
