T-L Photo/GAGE VOTA Martins Ferry resident Nathan Patillo eagerly shops at the newly opened Burlington at the Ohio Valley Mall.

ST. CLAIRSVILLE – For the first time in more than 20 years, Burlington will now call the Ohio Valley Mall home. The store opened its doors bright and early on Friday morning at the former Sears location.

Shoppers eagerly waited in line, which was headed by Martins Ferry resident Nathan Patillo, who said he arrived at the store’s entrance at 8:20 a.m..

He said that he recently shopped at a Burlington in Pennsylvania and saw the plethora of deals that the store offered.

“I was hoping that we could eventually get one. So when I heard talk of it, and you know how the valley is, sometimes you don’t know what’s really true, and what’s not. But when it came out that we were actually getting one, I was pretty excited about it,” Patillo said.

He added that once the doors opened, he was going directly to the store’s shoe department to check out the deals.

“I’m a shoe man, I love shoes. I have so many shoes, so I’m gonna go straight to the shoe section,” Patillo said. “I’m just really glad that it’s here, it’ll give us some more options of where to shop in the valley.”

The original Ohio Valley Mall location could be found where Michaels currently stands. It closed in 2002. Burlington District Manager Rich Bailey said that the community excitement has been excellent.

“There’s some cases when you open a new store that there’s not even a line, so to have people already in line out here is fantastic,” Bailey said. “Through the whole process, we literally had to station someone up front constantly to tell people that we weren’t open yet, because so many people were interested. That’s been constant for the last two weeks.”

He added that the reception from the community has been wonderful.

“I go out to restaurants and stuff here locally, and everybody’s asking me about it and seem really excited,” Bailey said. “We feel very welcomed here, and I think it’s a great addition to the mall.”

To reciprocate the community’s welcome, Burlington donated $5,000 to St. Clairsville Elementary School. Elementary principal Amber Galloway said that the donation is a huge blessing.

“This is incredible,” she said. “With funding being cut from the state, resources are limited for us. So to be able to invest in our staff and students, which is our greatest treasure at the elementary school, is a blessing that’s fantastic.”

The $5,000 will be divided between the school’s teachers to help pay for classroom materials, Galloway said. Superintendent Christina Laudermilt added that the school district is abundantly blessed with so many community partners, and the new partnership with Burlington further represents that strong community bonds with area businesses.

“When we have businesses that are supporting our students and supporting our school, they are supporting our future,” Laudermilt said.

Bailey was excited to be able to provide the school with $5,000 and knows that it will be going towards building the community’s future. He’s also proud that the new location’s employees are all local hires.

“Everyone that’s built this store, participated, and currently working here, are all from the local area. So, along with being able to give that really nice donation, we’re able to support the community by adding over 30 some jobs here as well,” Bailey said.

Ohio Valley Mall marketing director Candi Noble-Greathouse said that she couldn’t be happier with the opening of Burlington.

“Burlington has reinvented themselves. It’s obviously a different location, a different layout, and I think it’s going to be really well received,” Noble-Greathouse said.

She added that, in addition to Burlington, Escape Head Spa and Black Moon Coffee have both opened their doors in May.

“This has been a wonderful month for our shoppers and the mall,” Noble-Greathouse said. “We’re also really excited that at the beginning of August we can add our next store, Academy Sports and Outdoors will be opening its doors.”

Noble-Greathouse said Burlington’s addition will be a welcome option for summer shopping and back-to-school shopping.

“They will also be well established for the holiday season,” Noble-Greathouse said.