UPDATE JULY 17 2018
Five Below is set to open Friday July 20th in the Alcoa Exchange shopping center. See details here: https://www.facebook.com/events/423437914726548/
Orange Theory Fitness next door to them is getting there. They hope to open in September. Here’s the update to their story: https://www.mysaline.com/otf-annc/
UPDATE APR 30 2018
We wrote in February that national retailer Five Below plans to open a store in Bryant. We thought they might be going into one of the open slots in Alcoa Exchange, next to Target in Bryant. Today, we can tell you that Five Below will be in the location where Old Navy closed to consolidate with their store at Little Rock Outlets. Scroll down to the original article to read more about Five Below.
We also learned that Orangetheory Fitness is preparing the spot next door, which is formerly Rue 21. They hope to open their doors in the next few months. The company currently has about 940 locations nationwide. In Arkansas, there four open locations (West Little Rock, Midtown Little Rock, North Little Rock and Rogers), there is one about to open in Fayetteville, and this one in Bryant.
According to their website, Orangetheory is the brainchild of Ellen Latham, a physiologist based in Florida. It also says that they use something called Excess Post-Exercise Oxygen consumption (EPOC) in the 60-minute workouts, where participants get a heart-rate monitor and other equipment to monitor the five-zone interval training sessions.
ORIGINAL FEB 19 2018
A MySaline reader emailed us to ask about a store possibly coming to Bryant. Indeed, there is a retailer that sells things for $5.00 or less – and they list on their website that a location will be opening in Bryant soon.
The store chain, based in Philadelphia, is called Five Below. They have over 600 stores in the U.S., aiming their sales at teens, pre-teens and their parents. They sell accessories, cosmetics, sporting goods, candy, clothing and more.
The chain was founded in 2002 by two experienced businessmen, David Schlessinger and Tom Vellios. Schlessinger is the creator and founder of Encore Books and Zany Brainy. Vellios was the CEO of Zany Brainy and is now the Chairman of Five Below. Joel Anderson, former CEO of Walmart online, is CEO and President of Five Below.
I can’t say where yet the store will open until I hear back from the company representative, but you can probably make a good guess. The company has plans to open several locations in Arkansas – all in 2018. Cities on their current list include Bryant, Conway, Jonesboro, Little Rock and Searcy. I’ll update this story when more info is available.