T-L Photo/DYLAN McKENZIE Shoppers crowd the Marshalls department store at the Ohio Valley Mall. Marshalls opened in September, filling some of the space left vacant by the Elder-Beerman chain, which left the mall earlier this year.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Today, The Times Leader concludes its presentation of Eastern Ohio’s top 10 news stories of 2017, as voted on by the editorial staff.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — The past year brought numerous changes throughout the nation and local region, on large and small scales. The Ohio Valley Mall was no exception to these changes, with stores both opening and closing through the year.

2017 saw several longtime stores leave the mall, among them anchor stores KMart and Elder-Beerman, which had been open for many years at the establishment. Electronics store hhgregg, located outside of the actual mall, also closed its doors since the entire chain closed. The mall movie theater, Carmike Cinemas, left the area early this year, to be replaced by movie giant AMC Theaters.

Not all the change at the mall has been from stores leaving, however. Even as businesses closed, several new stores have sprung up to fill the gaps. After hhgregg moved out, Levin Furniture announced that it would be moving in to fill the store, officially opening in October. The furniture store is no stranger to the mall, previously filling the gap left by J.C. Penney from 2009 until 2013. Elder-Beerman left quite a large space to fill at the mall, but in September Marshalls department store stepped into a portion of the space that had been occupied by Elder-Beerman since 1998. Offering reasonable prices and a large selection of goods, Marshalls is a welcome addition to the Ohio Valley Mall family.

“I think a lot of us feel really gratified,” said Joe Bell, director of corporate communications for mall parent the Cafaro Co., of the changes 2017 brought to the mall. “There’s been a lot of hard work by the people who do our development and leasing work. They work very hard to find best possible new additions to the complex.”

Another few businesses recently opened to help residents satisfy their sweet tooth. Division One Donuts provides fresh, made-to-order doughnuts with a sports twist, and occupies a space outside of the mall previously occupied by the Simply Yogurt store. Inside the mall, Sweet Treats Featuring Jelly Belly is located by the Kids Zone, and offers a large selection of candy for patrons. The store also serves Hershey’s ice cream, ensuring customers looking for something sweet are sure to find satisfaction.

The mall still has room to grow and expand as 2017 comes to a close. The empty space left by K-Mart still has yet to be filled, and there is still space previously occupied by Elder-Beerman standing empty. However, the mall is planning on filling some of the empty space with Tilt Studio, a large arcade and family entertainment center that they hope will help draw more visitors of all ages to the mall.

“Aside from continued success of smaller retailers, we’re always looking towards the next thing that is happening,” Bell said. “Every year dozens and dozens of store concepts are hatched, and our people talk almost every day with local regional and national retailers.”

The Ohio Valley mall has been through whirlwind year, both losing and gaining new businesses. Looking to the future, officials are hopeful that the mall will continue to grow and keep serving the residents of the Ohio Valley.

“We’re definitely excited to be starting with new tenants and looking forward to 2018,” said Candi Noble-Greathouse, marketing director for the mall.