WAYNESBORO, Pa. - Sales have been so brisk at the new Peebles Department Store in the Wayne Heights Mall that they exceeded goals every day since opening Thursday, Linda Doll, the store's manager, said Monday.

The move by Peebles and a new adjacent Dollar Tree store into the vacant 34,000-square-foot former Ames department store has returned balance to the strip mall at the intersection of North Welty Road and Pa. 16.

Until the new stores opened - 20,000 square feet for Peebles and 14,000 square feet for Dollar Tree - the exodus of the Ames store left the mall at the intersection of Pa. 16 and North Welty Road in Washington Township anchored only at the west end by a Martin's Food Market.

The new Peebles store will employ about 23 people, Doll said Monday.

She said the store reported sales of 158 percent Thursday and 285 percent on Friday.

"We've already reached 100 percent today," she said at 4 p.m. Monday. "Business has been fabulous."

Doll owned the Hallmark Store in Waynesboro Mall for seven years before she closed it in 2003.

Peebles sells name-brand family clothing, shoes, gifts, accessories and housewares.

The chain's corporate headquarters are in South Hill, Va. It operates stores east of the Mississippi River. Its parent company is Stage Stores Inc. of Houston.

Peebles opened five new stores two weeks ago and four last week, said Rick Stanley, district manager for the company. He said his company has moved into several empty Ames stores.

Stanley was supervising last-minute details prior to the store's official opening Thursday.

"It amazes me how quickly it came together," he said.

He said the building's interior was taken down to its concrete walls and floors. New heating and air conditioning systems were installed as well as a new ceiling and floor.

The interior of the store looked brand new Wednesday.

The closest Peebles store to Waynesboro is in Gettysburg, Pa., he said.

Business also was brisk last week on the other side of the wall from Peebles. Joseph Stone, assistant manager of the new Dollar Tree, watched as shoppers lined up at his cash registers.

Stone said the store has 25 to 30 part-time employees.

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