Unemployment Insurance Claims Data Shed Light on the Local Economic Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Unemployment Insurance Claims Data Shed Light on the Local Economic Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic

By Lecia Parks Langston, Senior Economist; Michael Jeanfreau, Regional Economist

“You have power over your mind — not outside events. Realize this, and you will find strength.” Marcus Aurelius

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, businesses lost revenues and workers lost jobs. But because of the time it takes to collect and collate data, economists have been left without much information to quantify the economic impacts at the local level.

But there is one ray of data illumination. Claims for unemployment benefits are promptly available and provide information about a large cross section of the economy. This post will outline what light unemployment claims data sheds on the state of Utah’s Wasatch Front North economy.

While not all workers are protected by unemployment insurance laws, roughly 95% of jobs are covered. This makes claims data an exceptional source of information about the economy. Not included under unemployment insurance laws are most self-employed workers, about half of agricultural employment, unpaid family workers, railroad personnel (covered separately) and many nonprofit organizations (such as churches). Also, some out-of-work employees may not have worked a sufficient work history to qualify for unemployment insurance benefits, but may file anyway. Fortunately, in this time of economic distress, the social safety nets of the unemployment insurance program, special national COVID-19 funding and social programs are working together to keep workers’ income and well-being stable.

Unemployment claimants and the unemployed; they aren’t the same

Also, keep in mind that, in addition to individuals drawing unemployment benefits, the unemployment rate includes those entering and re-entering the workforce and noncovered groups without current employment. This means the number of “unemployed” will be greater than the number of claimants. In “normal” times, only about 40% of the “unemployed” are claiming benefits. The generally reported unemployment rate also has a work-search requirement. If you haven’t made any minimal attempts to find work, you aren’t counted as “unemployed.”

Watch this Space

While this analysis won’t be updated on a regular basis, new data will be added to the data visualization on a weekly basis allowing readers to check back for the latest information.

An Unprecedented Event

Not surprisingly, first-time claims for unemployment benefits have soared in Utah and across the nation as the pandemic swept across the country. This increase is unprecedented since the creation of unemployment insurance coverage during the Great Depression. Week 12 (beginning March 16) marks the start of this unparalleled surge in claims. On a positive note, while new claims for unemployment benefits have skyrocketed in Utah, the state currently shows one of the lowest claims rates in the nation.

For most Wasatch Front North counties, initial claims peaked in week 14 (starting March 30) and have since tapered downward. During the peak, initial claims filed totaled 5,744 in the region. By week 19, claims measured considerably lower but continued to run substantially greater than in previous years — even during the “Great Recession.”

Here’s another example of the tremendous flood of new claims. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, counties in Wasatch Front North Utah averaged a total of 240 first-time claims per week. This time period included seasonally high claims weeks in January. In the weeks after, an average of 3,342 claims were filed for a staggering increase of 1,392%.

Who took the hardest hit?

Each county in the Wasatch Front North region has had a different industry leading the total number of claims in the area. Overall, manufacturing lead total initial claims at 13%, followed by both health care/social assistance and retail trade at 12%, with food service/accommodation following at 11%. Additionally, claims from unknown industries are also prevalent, representing 12% of total initial claims. These claims will mostly fall into the food service industry.

The Domino Effect of COVID-19

In the early stages of the pandemic, this was a story of service-dependent industries. However, the domino effect of the COVID-19 pandemic have also begun to have large impacts in other industries. Claims have been distributed fairly evenly among different industries, with manufacturing, health care/social assistance, retail trade, accommodation/foodservice and claims from “unknown” industries as the top five industries impacted within each county in the Wasatch Front North region. Many of these unclassified claims would rightfully be counted among accommodations/food services if the appropriate information were available.

The initial impact of the pandemic led to the closure of face-to-face jobs, but the change in employment and social behavior both locally and abroad has led to subsequent closures in other industries. Industries that didn’t face instructions to alter behavior during this event still had to adapt to the difference in consumer behavior, supply chains and additional safety precautions.

The Industry Flow

Initial claims in the region have come in waves, with food service/accommodation and unknown claims peaking in week 12, followed by an uptick in claims from nonessential health care services and retail trade through weeks 13 and 14, and lastly a marked increase in manufacturing by week 15.

The High and the Low

Although the largest numbers of claims in Wasatch Front North have come from manufacturing, health care/social assistance, retail trade and food services, in percentage terms, other industries have actually suffered more. For example, in the smaller industries of mining, real estate/rental and leasing, information and personal care services have all seen similar losses of between 16-19% of total covered employment.

Because of its job-to-job nature, the construction industry typically accounts for 15-25% of first-time claims. However, although construction’s new claims have also increased, they have increased at a much slower-than-average rate. After the COVID-19 pandemic hit, construction contributed less than 4% of all first-time claims. Ease of social-distancing and good weather have helped construction maintain employment levels. New claims measured just 5% of covered construction employment.

Only a portion of agricultural employment is covered by unemployment insurance laws. However, as companies work to keep America fed, agribusiness has laid off few employees. Only 2% of Wasatch Front North’s covered agricultural workers have filed a claim during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Public administration, educational services (including public and higher education), finance/insurance and utilities have also managed to keep a higher percentage of their workforces employed.

County by County

Davis County

• Davis County matched the state average for new claims as a share of covered employment (10%). While the whole region suffered similar initial losses, Davis County was largely spared the increase in manufacturing claims that Weber County experienced in the weeks following the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• While the percent of covered employment is lower in Davis County, it had the largest total initial claims in the region (13,951), narrowly beating out Weber County (12,451).
• Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Davis County averaged 104 first-time claims per week compared with 1,744 claims after the pandemic. This increase of 1,581% ranked as the largest in the region.
• Retail trade, health care/social services and accommodation/food services generated the highest number of initial claims during the pandemic.
• Davis County’s initial claims peaked on week 14, totaling 3,081. This was the only week that claims rose over 3,000.
• The regional share of new claims that Davis County had rose from before 43% of claims to 52% during the pandemic.

Morgan County

• Prior to the COVID-19 slowdown, Morgan County averaged three unemployment insurance claims per week compared to 42 new claims afterward, an increase of 1,071%.
• Because of its relatively large share of service industry employment, Morgan County has shown a higher-than-average increase in claims due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
• New claims as a percent of covered employment measured at 13% — above the state average of 10%.
• Morgan was slightly unusual compared to other areas, with health care/social assistance receiving more initial claims than food service/accommodation industry.
• In counties with small workforces, the lack of data accuracy can make an impact to volatility. In Morgan County, the initial claims data show claims from an overwhelming percentage of covered employment in both entertainment and management of companies.
• Morgan County remained a meager 1% of total first-time claims for the region during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Weber County

• While Weber County and Davis County are the two large contributors to employment numbers in the region, Weber County has had 12,451 total first-time claims filed during the COVID-19 pandemic. While this is only slightly less than Davis County (13,951), Weber County’s share of first-time claims within the entire region dropped before and during the COVID-19 slowdown from 55% of all claims before to 47% of all claims during. This means that, while Weber County’s claims increased proportionately less than other counties in the region.
• Before the slowdown, an average of 133 initial claims were being filed in Weber County compared to an average of 994 claims in the following weeks. The pre-to-post-pandemic increase registered at 1,339%
•  Initial claims for unemployment insurance filed during the pandemic as a percent of covered employment measured at 11%, near the middle of a ranking of all Utah counties.
• Weber County had more first-time claims filed during the pandemic from the manufacturing (2,376) and health care/social assistance (1,470) industries than the more common accommodation/food services.
• While the total claims are higher in other industries, several industries suffered larger portions of claims as a percent of covered employment. Real estate/rental and leasing saw claims from 19% of covered employment, while industries designated as “other services” received the same. In this case, these claims will largely be coming from personal beauty services, a subset of “other services.” Information (18%), mining (16%) and accommodation/food service (16%) all similarly saw claims from a high percent of covered employment.
• Claims originating from manufacturing and transportation surged towards the latter weeks of the pandemic time period.

The New Retail Workforce:How Online Sales are Changing Retail Jobs in Northern Utah.

Consumer spending makes up around 68 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. Consumer spending is individuals and families purchasing groceries, clothing, recreation, stocks, insurance, education and much more. The transactions cover a broad swath of economic activity.

Much of the nation’s consumer spending is captured via retail trade. A useful retail trade definition is “the re-sale (sale without transformation) of new and used goods to the general public, for personal or household consumption or utilization.” Not all consumer spending is captured through retail trade transactions, but a large share is.

Broad-category examples of retail trade sectors are motor vehicle sales, furniture stores, electronic stores, building material stores, grocery stores, pharmacies, gas stations, clothing stores and department stores, among others.

Then there is the relatively new and emerging part of the retail trade sphere — nonstore retailers. These are establishments that sell products on the internet. Examples include Amazon, Zappos, Overstock.com, or eBay. These types of retailers have grown rapidly in the past 15 years and their presence is reshaping the retail trade landscape.

Whereas in the past nearly all retail transactions were done through traditional brick-and-mortar stores, now a significant and growing segment is diverted to internet sales. The consumer shops online and FedEx (or like) delivers the product. One can see that the number of brick-and-mortar stores and the level of local sales across the country are being endangered by this economic evolution.

The brick-and-mortar reduction is beginning to show its economic presence in the United States employment numbers. While the U.S. economy is finally expanding at a healthy pace this side of the Great Recession, one of the few industries not rising with this tide is retail trade. While overall retail sales are increasing, employment is not.

Traditionally, as a population increases, retail trade employment grows simultaneously, since population growth and consumer spending volume is an integrated dynamic. If studied deeply, a certain ratio of retail trade employment growth spawned from population growth would emerge. Before the internet, the vast majority of all consumer sales occurred in the immediate community or region. But now, the internet is diverting these sales away from the local community — and with internet sales growing, its market share will increase.

We do not yet know how much brick-and-mortar erosion will eventually occur. And will such a phenomenon hit some areas more than others (e.g., urban vs. rural, or local vs. tourist spending)? These are touch points that economist will be watching as this internet sales phenomenon continues to grow within the national and Utah economies.

In light of this change, in this quarter’s Local Insights we are profiling retail trade employment throughout Utah’s local regions. This can offer a profile of where retail trade is now in a local economy, and possibly how much of the sector could become vulnerable to the internet-sales phenomenon.

All regions can be viewed through the Local Insights web portal. The following is a retail trade profile for the Wasatch Front North region:

Retail Matters in the Wasatch Front North

The retail trade industry is an important economic driver in the Wasatch Front North. It employs nearly 28,000 people in the region — more than 12 percent of total nonfarm employment. In Davis County, retail trade employs a larger share than any other industry, and in Weber County it is the third largest employer behind manufacturing and health care. Retail sales account for some 57 percent of total taxable sales in the region — a considerably larger share than the 52 percent statewide average.

The Rise of Online Retail

Due to consumers making more and more purchases online, the demand for brick-and-mortar retail workers in the region has been softening. Overall, employment in the Wasatch Front North has been growing at a rate of about 3 percent on average since the end of the recession; but in traditional retail, employment has been averaging just 1.7 percent. Prior to the recession — and before online retail really took off — traditional retail employment was clipping along at a much quicker average rate of 2.4 percent growth.

Non-store retail, on the other hand, has been booming in the region. With the arrival and expansion of major online retailers, like Wayfair in Ogden, employment in non-store retail has grown an average of 19 percent annually since 2010. The share of total employment represented by non-store retail has increased 137 percent over that time. The next highest employment share expansion in retail was in the miscellaneous category (e.g., pet stores, office supply stores, florists), which increased its share by a paltry 10 percent in comparison. Most other retail categories saw a decline in their share of total employment.

Non-store Taxable Sales Are Gaining, But Not as Fast as Employment. Why?

Taxable sales in non-store retail have not gained as a share of total taxable sales as quickly as the employment share has increased. This is primarily because sales taxes are collected by the state of the purchaser, and then, only if the seller has a physical presence in that state. This means that when Wayfair sells a rug to someone outside of Utah, there is money coming into Utah (in terms of the jobs that the sale supports) but there is no sales tax coming in to Utah. The only non-store sales taxes captured in Utah are Utah consumers purchasing goods from retailers with a presence in Utah. Since a large share of sales by local online retailers are to customers in other states, it means that sales tax revenue lags compared to employment growth in the industry.

An Aging Retail Workforce

Interestingly, the jobs in retail are not primarily younger workers as one might expect. In fact, about 70 percent of the region’s retail jobs are people 25 and older, and approximately 50 percent are at least 35. There used to be more young workers in the industry. Prior to the recession in 2007, the share of 35 and older retail workers in the Wasatch Front North was just 40 percent.

During the Great Recession, the share of teenagers working in retail plummeted from over 10 percent to about 5 percent and has remained low ever since. The reduced youth base means there are fewer workers who stay on and age into the older categories.

A Less Educated Retail Workforce

At the same time, the share of retail workers with less than a high school education has increased significantly. This has been primarily at the expense of individuals for whom educational attainment data are not available (i.e., workers under the age of 24 — mostly students). Since 2007, the share of workers with less than a high school education in Utah retail has increased by more than 25 percent.

This does not appear to be an actual increase in less educated workers. Rather, the drop in workers under 24-years-old is causing a share increase for the existing less educated workers. As a result, the retail workforce in the Wasatch Front North (and in Utah in general) is trending toward an older and less educated demographic.

What is Driving This Trend?

Much of this trend is likely the result of young people choosing to take jobs in other industries with better pay, as wages in retail have suffered. Or they may be opting to finance their education rather than work while attending school. But some portion of this shift is also being driven by the structural changes taking place in retail due to increasing online sales.

The Occupational Shift

The transition to non-store retail translates to shifting demand for a different set of occupations required by non-store retail operations. Traditional brick-and-mortar retail stores primarily need people to work on the sales floor, such as retail sales workers and cashiers. Those two occupations alone represent about 45 percent of all employees in traditional retail. In non-store retail, on the other hand, the top two occupations are customer service reps and shipping/receiving clerks. Freight and inventory movers, order clerks/fillers, and truck drivers all play a much more prominent role in non-store retail as well.

Generally speaking, these kinds of jobs tend to require more time commitment than the most demanded traditional retail jobs. According to the Conference Board’s Help Wanted Online® product (analyzes online job postings), about 40 percent of job openings for cashiers and retail sales workers (the top jobs for traditional retail) posted in Utah in the second quarter of 2017 were part-time jobs. Only 20 percent of job postings for customer service reps and shipping/receiving clerks (the top jobs for non-store retail) were part-time. Positions that require more time commitment and more fixed schedules are likely to be less attractive to young people — especially students — who may be looking for opportunities that are less time consuming.

The Geographic Shift

In addition, there is a geographic component to this transition. Traditional retailers tend to have many more locations spread out geographically, making them more likely to have that cover a broader footprint within the labor force. Online retailers, however, are generally centralized in large warehouses, distribution centers, and office buildings that runs counter to the disperse spread of traditional brick-and-mortar. As a result, it may be harder for workers — especially younger workers — to get to and from these jobs.

What It All Means

These structural changes are having a profound effect on the retail workforce, and we can reasonably expect the resulting trends to continue for some time. As new technologies and retail processes emerge, there will doubtless be more shifts in this rapidly evolving sector. But for now, in the Wasatch Front North region, we can expect fewer traditional brick-and-mortar retail jobs, more non-store retail jobs, and an increasing share of retail employment opportunities that may be challenging for our young population to access.

Check Out the Viz

If you are interested in the details, the data visualization below breaks out the various retail categories and allows you to compare sales (as a share of total taxable sales) and employment (as a share of total nonfarm employment) in each category (by county) over time. The relative changes in taxable sales compared to employment are telling in relation to some of these structural changes, although direct links are difficult to establish as there are many other confounding factors. The tables at the bottom give the actual sales and employment levels, summed-up for whatever you have selected in the county and retail category filters.

Woods Cross Kmart to close in early December

“Store closures are part of a series of actions we’re taking to reduce ongoing expenses, adjust our asset base and accelerate the transformation of our business model,” said Chris Braithwaite of Sears Holding. “These actions will better enable us to focus our investments on serving our customers and members through integrated retail—at the store, online and at home.”

The closing comes as Sears Holdings, the parent company, has announced similar store shutdowns in several other locations in the country. Brathwaite said eligible employees will receive severance and be given the opportunity to apply for open positions at other area Sears or Kmart stores. The Woods Cross store currently has 54 employees, most of them part time or hourly. Davis County Clipper

Nine new merchants to debut at Station Park

Station Park shopping center in Farmington has opened nine additional stores or eateries. These include Bandidos Taqueria, Cherry Berry, Chico’s, Dickey’s Barbecue Pit, Gymboree, Habit Burger Grill, IT’SUGAR, Orange Leaf, Starbucks and Sugar Daisy Bakery. Salt Lake Tribune

Walmart coming to West Haven: Construction could begin early next spring

After several years of discussions, possibilities and negotiations, Walmart is finally coming to West Haven.

Mayor Brian Melaney told city council members at a work session Wednesday that Walmart has decided to move forward with building a store in West Haven.

This will be the first grocery store in West Haven since it was incorporated 19 years ago.

Melaney added that Walmart should attract other retailers to the surrounding area. Standard Examiner

New stores opening at Station Park in Farmington

Station Park shopping mall in Farmington has announced new restaurant and retail business
openings.

Led by H&M and Nordstrom Rack, then in the months ahead, Twigs Martini Bar & Bistro and
Bandidos Taqueria, joined by Cherry Berry, Costa Vida, Dickey’s Barbeque, Edible
Arrangements, Habit Burger Grill, Orange Leaf, Starbucks and Sugar Daisy Bakery. Station Park
also will feature an upscale fitness center, The GYM. Salt Lake Tribune

Halting urban sprawl may improve social interaction

Wasatch Front leaders who seek to halt urban sprawl and instead develop new town centers around transit hubs might do more than just reduce traffic congestion and pollution — they may also make social interaction much easier, fueling more innovation and creativity locally.

That’s according to a Steven Farber, a University of Utah geography professor who just published, along with Xiao Li, research in the Journal of Transport Geography about how social interaction is affected by sprawl or centralization.

The consortium envisions that many people would live in buildings that have businesses on the first floor, offices on the second and residences above that. Town centers would be designed to allow people to live, work and play in the same area so they would commute less. Salt Lake Tribune

Mattress firm opens new store in Layton

Mattress Firm, Inc., a national specialty mattress retailer, announced the opening of a new location in Layton.

Houston-based Mattress Firm has more than 1,000 stores across 28 states and offers a broad selection of both traditional and specialty mattresses, bedding accessories and related products from leading manufacturers. Standard Examiner

Bountiful Fresh Market to close

The Fresh Market store in Bountiful will close in February and a nearby Dick’s Market will be remodeled in an attempt to attract more shoppers, owner Associated Food Stores said.

Associated will remodel the Dick’s Market at 2280 S. Orchard Drive immediately. It will stay open during the remodel, which should be finished in the spring. The Fresh Market store at 535 S. 200 West will close Feb. 9.

"We will be able to combine the best elements from Fresh Market with the exemplary offerings of Dick’s Market," Troy Thomas, vice president of Associated Retail Operations, said in a statement. "The combination of Fresh Market and our remodel at Dick’s Market will make our grocery store one of the finest in Davis County."

Most Fresh Market and Dick’s Market employees will keep their jobs, but there may be some reduction as a result of the consolidation, the company said. It estimated that as many as five workers may be laid off.

In March, Associated closed a Fresh Market supermarket in West Valley City. Salt Lake Tribune

Recreation Outlet Expands, Moves its Ogden Store

Utah-based outdoor retailer Recreation Outlet is moving its downtown Ogden store to 2326 S. Washington Blvd.

A re-opening celebration is set for 9 a.m. on Nov. 8.

The new store is nearly twice as large as the former outlet, and includes a 4,000-square foot bargain basement, company founder Tom Coleman said.

"We are excited to be part of the vibrant downtown Ogden retail scene," Coleman said. "Our success here over the past two years has inspired us to expand. [We] thank everyone for their incredible support of a local Utah company." Salt Lake Tribune

Mattress Firm opens eighth Utah store

The Mattress Firm Inc., a bedding retailer with more than 800 stores in 26 states, has opened a new outlet in Farmington.

The 4,489-square-foot store is located at 270 N. Central Ave.

The Farmington store is the eighth Utah location for the Houston-based company. The Mattress Firm entered the Utah market in December 2011 with the opening of a store in Salt Lake City. Salt Lake Tribune

Syracuse development could have $51 million economic impact, state official says

Jeff Edwards, president of Economic Development Corporation Utah, said running the numbers on a proposed Ninigret Group L.C. project on 180 acres near Syracuse High School shows the proposal would do more than potentially create more than 1,000 jobs. It would generate the circulation of millions of dollars from salaries, new retail opportunities, new tax revenue and other amenities.

The current Ninigret proposal includes a 155-acre job center, which could include an array of industrial, light-industrial and commercial uses. The plan also includes 25 acres of multifamily development. The project is south of the coming State Road 193 expansion project, west of 1000 West, east of 2000 West and north of 700 South. Ninigret outlined plans for the project in November 2011 on property owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The company estimated the project could bring as many as 1,200 jobs to the region. Standard Examiner

Retail sector stages a comeback in Utah

Among retailers arriving in Utah this year: Utah’s first Tiffany & Co. and Michael Kors shops are coming to the City Creek Center shopping center in downtown Salt Lake City; the state’s first humongous Scheels sporting goods store will open in Sandy, with a 65-foot-tall Ferris wheel and a 16,000-gallon saltwater aquarium inside; and several smaller chains, such as Johnny Rockets hamburger restaurant, will open in Farmington in the Station Park shopping center.

Scores of new tenants are moving into formerly “dark” stores emptied during the recession, bringing new life to shopping centers and malls along the Wasatch Front. In Layton, Dick’s Sporting Goods is operating in a long-vacant Meryvn’s location at Layton Hills Mall. In Centerville, Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft is moving into a spot left empty by Roberts Arts & Crafts. In South Jordan, thrift store chain Savers has claimed another former Roberts location.

There’s also the new-to-Utah phenomenon. Chains of all sizes, including The Container Store, a retailer of storage items, and The Habit, a growing hamburger chain, are out scouting for space for their debuts. They join other chains that recently opened their first Utah locations, including home decor chain Crate & Barrel; apparel store H&M, which opened in Fashion Place Mall; and Marshalls, which opened in the Station Park shopping center in Farmington.

Salt Lake Tribune

Ogden Chevy dealership rebuilds

As the walls of the old dealership came tumbling down Friday, a new $3 million showroom for John Watson Chevrolet moved one step closer to completion. General sales manager Cory Watson sat with his family in the used car lobby at 3535 Wall Ave. while demolition machinery clawed at the 16,000-square-foot building. The parts department, complete with a new northern entrance, will remain in service while the new 20,000-square-foot showroom -- including offices, a car delivery area and new service drives -- is constructed. Watson anticipates an August grand opening. Ogden Standard-Examiner

Larry H. Miller group opens new showroom in Riverdale

A new Larry H. Miller Chrysler Jeep Dodge Ram dealership recently opened in Riverdale. The dealership employs 72 at its 1481 W. Riverdale Road location. It boasts a 55,000-square-foot building, including a showroom, expanded customer waiting lounge, and three times the available service bays of its former location. Ogden Standard-Examiner

Papa Murphy's opens stores

Papa Murphy's has opened five new stores along the Wasatch Front. The new Papa Murphy's stores are located in Salt Lake City (150 E. 3300 S. and 1645 W. 700 N.), Layton (765 West Antelope Dr.), Clinton (1952 N. 2000 W.), and Springville (655 E. 400 S.). Each store is locally owned and operated by Utah franchisees. Ogden Standard-Examiner

Candle chain opens Newgate Mall store

The national chain store Yankee Candle has opened a store in the Newgate Mall, the third of four stores it plans this year for Utah. The corporate-owned stores will be open year-round and employ up to 10 part-time workers and two full-timers in Ogden. Ogden Standard-Examiner

Dick's Sporting Goods in Layton now open

The new Dick's Sporting Goods store is now open at the Layton Hills Mall. The Layton location is the retailer's second store in Utah and its 457th nationwide. Ogden Standard-Examiner

Stores opening Station Park development in Farmington

The development pace at Station Park in Farmington has picked up, with new stores coming online on almost a weekly basis and Phase 1 of the project scheduled for completion by Thanksgiving. Last week, Home Goods, Marshalls and ULTA Cosmetics opened stores in the $250 million development on the city's west side. Sally Beauty Supply, Famous Footwear and Chase Bank are expected to open in September. Tilly's, a surf and skate clothing retailer, is expected to open its first store in Utah in October.

Phase 1 of the development involves 425,000 square feet of space, including Harmons and other retail establishments around the perimeter of the project. At the center of the project will be the village and lifestyle center. Work on that phase began earlier this year. Several other key elements are expected to begin soon. One is a park located on the southern end in front of the Cinemark Theatre Complex, which will include a $2 million foundation with animation, music, dancing waters and even fog, designed by the company that built the fountains in front of the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas and the water fountain at Disneyland. Ogden Standard-Examiner

Gold's Gym replaces Ace Hardware in Syracuse

Syracuse is losing its Ace Hardware store, but gaining a Gold's Gym at the same location. The Ace store at 1792 S. 1000 West will close after today, with owners moving its remaining inventory and some employees to the Ace Hardware store at 1330 E. U.S. Highway 193, Layton.

Gold's Gym of Northern Utah plans to lease the store property and open that ownership's fourth location. Gold's Gym has announced it intends on renovating that space in preparation for a Nov. 1 gym opening. Ogden Standard-Examiner