It seems like Skyline Mall is more and more vacant each day, and with Wal-Mart leaving, the barrenness will likely grow.

For Herb Andersen, owner of three Andersen’s Hallmark stores in Albert Lea, the decision to close his Skyline location was brought on by this vacancy.

&uot;We just aren’t getting the traffic we need,&uot; Andersen said. &uot;And with Wal-Mart going out, that will slow down even more. I got a lot of customers from Wal-Mart.&uot;

Wal-Mart will be closing their Skyline store in October and moving into their new Supercenter on East Main Street. Rainbow Foods, at the other end of the mall, went bankrupt this past spring and has been closed for three weeks. Though a new tenant is expected to open a grocery store soon at that location, there is still a sense of panic about what will happen to the mall.

In front of Andersen’s Skyline store there are tables with &uot;half off&uot; merchandise and large signs saying &uot;store closing sale.&uot; The sight has other retailers worried.

&uot;We’ll have very few customers if there are no retail businesses here,&uot; said Tina Clapper, manager at Cafe Don’L, a mall restaurant. &uot;We’re all a little nervous.&uot;

For Carlos Kramer and his wife Luz, that emotion is even greater.

The Kramers moved from Miami, Fla. in February and opened a dollar store in the Skyline Mall, diagonally across from Andersen’s.

&uot;I’m not sure what is happening to this place, but there are no people,&uot; Carlos said of the mall.

Carlos said he noticed less traffic after Rainbow closed, but now that the greeting-card and novelty shop is closing, he’s afraid that it will get even worse.

&uot;We got a lot of customers who would go to Andersen’s to buy greeting cards and then come here,&uot; he said. &uot;Now I’ll be the only one in this area (of the mall).&uot;

When Wal-Mart first moved into the mall on West Main Street, there were many retailers, Andersen recalled. He said the number has dwindled over the years. Northbridge Mall opened on the north end of town in the

mid-1980s, providing competition. Now, the map in front of the mall says that 21 out of 46 store slots are filled, and many of the tenants aren’t retail stores.

While the area is losing retailers, there are many other types of businesses, such as insurance agents, financial companies and barber shops.

&uot;Eventually it will just become a business center,&uot; said Lyle Godeke, of Hollandale, who was shopping in the mall on Thursday. &uot;It’s not really going to be a shopping place anymore.&uot;

With Wal-Mart going, he expects there to be less reason for people who don’t live in the neighborhood to come to the mall.

Some retail store owners don’t expect to take a huge hit, but still a visible one.

&uot;Most of our customers come in because they are on our catalog list,&uot; Linda Pownell, manager of Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts, said. &uot;But with Rainbow gone, we’ve definitely seen a drop in the walk-in type customers, and I guess I’d expect that with Wal-Mart too. But we’ll be OK.&uot;

For dollar-store owner Kramer, it has been a hard start, but he said he has no plans to move to a different location.

&uot;It’s tough with them gone,&uot; he said. &uot;But I’ll stay here alone.&uot;