DES MOINES, Iowa — The Des Moines Buccaneers have officially dropped out of its' lease agreement, Local 5 learned Tuesday morning, after two years of commitment.
Now, local small businesses within Merle Hay Mall are left on thin ice, wondering what the future will look like.
"This Buc thing is gonna hurt us more than anything else," said Tabbie Hiatt, owner of Enchanted Beauty.
The mall has become a popular spot for local businesses, but with large spaces sitting vacant in the mall it's putting those businesses in a tough spot with decreased foot traffic.
"They need to do something, you just you can't wait, they need to do something," said Ande Goodman, owner of Dwarven Workshop.
The new Bucs arena hopping ship comes as a shock and a big concern for local businesses, as it was supposed to increase foot traffic.
"It's going to impact our sales, it impacts the traffic of the mall and it impacts our futures," Hiatt said.
The mall also did not see this decision coming.
"We were disappointed and we were surprised," CEO of Merle Hay Mall, Liz Holland said.
Merle Hay Mall has been committed with the Bucs since 2022. It was part of its initiative to bring sports and entertainment to the mall.
"You know, there was an issue, we couldn't give them a firm date when we were gonna deliver the arena to them, but that's always been the case," Holland said.
The mall is committed to continuing its initiative and said it has already seen some goals completed.
"Of the original plan, the mall has completed 40% of what it committed to do back in the spring of 2022," Holland said.
However, local businesses inside the mall said sales are already 40% down from last year. The businesses expect to see that number drop more, if nothing changes.
"A lot of disappointment that the mall and those that run the mall couldn't come to an agreement for something so big," Hiatt said.
Businesses are still optimistic, saying it is a great mall, but that it just needs more.
"I hope people don't just abandon ship all of a sudden, because then that's where we'll end up in trouble," Goodman said.
The mall said it will move forward with the plan to build the arena, but is working to come up with a revised plan with the Iowa Economic Development Authority.