Road To Retail Leads To Southwest Tulsa

It's the new road to retail.  On Highway 75 in Southwest Tulsa, the first stores in the Tulsa Hills Shopping Center open in just a few weeks.  The News On 6's Steve Berg reports for years the growth has been south and east, even though Highway 75 provided good access to the south and west.  But now, the southwest secret is out.

The new Tulsa Hills Target has its aim squarely on opening day.

"We're unloading trucks pretty much every day trying to get the product in here so we have it ready for our guests when we open on March 9th," said Joy Cunningham, Target.

Just two days later, Belk Department Stores opens its 3rd Oklahoma store.

"I think it will be a great partnership and we'll have a lot of cross business going from Target to us and obviously to Lowe's.  We think we'll get the full realm of the family to come shopping with us in this shopping center," said Jaime Valdez, Belk.

Belk started in the Southeastern U.S. and branched west.  Coincidentally, they're part of the western growth in Tulsa County.

"There's probably another 30 stores between restaurants and retail that will be opening throughout the next several months," said Valdez.

"Retails' always a little faster paced than most construction.  Y'know we push the schedules and try and open the stores faster.  Y'know they want to get in their stores as fast as they can and start selling merchandise," said Thad Yeargain, Key Construction.

The southwest building boom doesn't stop in Tulsa.  In Glenpool, they're putting the finishing touches on a new Super Wal-Mart next to Highway 75.

"This is just a big booming area for us, and we're very excited to be part of the growth out here in South Tulsa," said Valdez.

Some of the other stores arriving soon include Best Buy, JC Penney, Payless Shoes, Old Navy and PetSmart.

Eventually, the shopping center will have over a million square feet of retail space.