Hat chain Lids, Kenwood Towne Centre accused of trying to squeeze out local shop owner

A local memorabilia shop owner is accusing hat retailing giant Lids and the Kenwood Towne Centre of colluding to muscle him out of the region's premier shopping destination just weeks after opening a new store.

Mark Stapleton, the owner of Hats N' More, opened his new store on Feb. 1. On the same day, mall officials threatened to terminate his lease after admitting to him they were being pressured by rival Lids, according to a lawsuit filed by Stapleton.

Stapleton who is grooming a third and fourth generation to work in the stores, says opening his fifth mall-based shop got ugly fast.

The trouble started after mall officials agreed in January to allow him to move into a spot vacated by a Lids affiliate a few doors down from a Lids store that stayed open.

Despite paperwork clearly stating the new store would be called "Hats N' More," mall officials later told Stapleton they thought hats would be a small percentage of his sales, according to a lawsuit over the dispute. Cincy Shops began using "Hats N' More" in 2006 as hat sales became its majority source of income.

A day before opening, mall officials complained to Stapleton that Lids representatives were "throwing a fit." They told him Lids was pressing the mall's corporate parent, reminding them the larger chain "had 100 stores" at their malls. Lids objected to a competitor being leased space they had left, according to the lawsuit.

Calls seeking comment from General Growth Properties, the Chicago-based parent company of the Kenwood Towne Centre, and Genesco, the Nashville-based parent company of Lids, were not immediately returned.

Mall officials pressed Stapleton to remove hats from his display windows, pressured him to change the store name, asked him to move to a more expensive location in the mall and told not to sell hats, the lawsuit states. Stapleton said he's tried to work with the mall, but refused most of the requests.

Stapleton tried to play ball. He didn't have a lot of leverage; he was given the space under a temporary two-year lease that could be revoked with 30 days notice. Stapleton agreed to the original terms with the understanding the mall would give him a longer-term lease once he demonstrated solid sales results.

In an Enquirer interview, Stapleton declined to discuss the dispute outlined in the lawsuit he filed.

Stapleton, 49, who lives in Bridgetown, grew up in his father's Cincy Shops business and took it over five years ago. The company now sells baseball caps and other licensed sports memorabilia at Kenwood and four other area malls.

"I loved going to work with my dad (Roger Stapleton) all those years – it was awesome, we shared our lives together," Stapleton said, fondly recalling his appearances in some of his dad's now-vintage TV ads.

After a rough start at Kenwood, things got even worse.

On the second day of business, Stapleton heard from his employees that sales clerks from the nearby Lids came to the store, taunting them that Lids was going to shut them down, according to the lawsuit. Some of the Lids workers took pictures of store displays.

Hats N' More called mall security to warn Lids from coming back. But a few days later, mall officials called the store, accusing them of provoking Lids with window displays of hats, the lawsuit says.

Mall officials also chided Stapleton, saying he would not have been given the store space had they been aware of "the contentious relationship and issues Hats N' More has had with Lids in other malls."

A week after opening at the Kenwood mall, Stapleton learned that a Lids district manager had visited his Florence Mall store and grilled an employee about Hats N' More's new store operations.

After three weeks of friction, on Feb. 20, mall officials gave Hats N' More 30 days notice to move out.

On Wednesday, Stapleton filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Cincinnati against the parent companies of Lids and the Kenwood Towne Centre to fight his ouster and seeking a temporary restraining order to block his store from being shut down.

The lawsuit accuses Lids and Kenwood Towne Centre of engaging in an "anti-competitive conspiracy" against Hats N' More, interfering with its business and other charges.

Stapleton's attorney, Aryeh Younger of Ritter & Randolph, said the next step in the lawsuit would be a hearing on their bid for a temporary restraining order to allow Hats N' More to remain in Kenwood.