T-L Photo/CARRI GRAHAM Macy’s department store will permanently close its doors in March after 14 years at the Ohio Valley Mall in St. Clairsville.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE — Mall officials confirmed Monday that after 14 years at the Ohio Valley Mall, Macy’s department store will close its doors for good in March.

Joe Bell, spokesman for mall owner Cafaro Co., said the store will permanently close by the end of March.

“It is unfortunate. Among the 20 stores Macy’s is closing this year, the Ohio Valley Mall location will be among them,” he said.

Macy’s was established in 1858 and now has more than 740 stores in the United States. The 104,000-square-foot mall location opened to the public in 2006 and is the only remaining Macy’s location between Pittsburgh and Columbus.

The retailer closed eight stores last year, Bell said, and is set to close an additional 20 locations this year.

“We thought they were doing well,” he said.

According to a source who declined to identify herself, employees of the store were recently notified of the closing.

Bell said the mall will be accelerating its “talks” with other retailers in order to find a replacement to fill the soon-to-be empty space. He would not elaborate on potential replacements at this time.

“We see it as a part of the journey, and we hope to find something to replace it,” he said.

Although the mall will soon lose an important anchor store, it also will celebrate many new openings, Bell said.

“We take this as an opportunity to redesign the store space. … We have been having a good week lately — Dunham’s just opened and is doing well; Boscov’s is doing great. There’s no reason why another retailer can’t survive here,” Bell said.

Chick-fil-A restaurant will open in early spring. The nearly 5,000-square-foot eatery is being built outside of the mall in the parking lot next to Longhorn Steakhouse. It will offer seating for 117 people and include a drive-thru lane.

Additionally, construction of the new Hampton Inn & Suites, located in a portion of the space where the former Kmart store was situated, is underway. The other portion of that space is home to the new Dunham’s Sports store, which opened in late October.

St. Clairsville Area Chamber of Commerce Director Wendy Anderson said while Macy’s was not a chamber member, the Ohio Valley Mall remains a significant part of local economic life. She said many small, unique local shopping options remain in the area.

“I’m sorry for them, but we have some great boutiques uptown,” she said.