The Nittany Mall has had more empty retail spaces recently than many long-time residents can remember.

Bonnie Tarman, mall general manager, said there are nine vacancies. It's a normal sequence for the stores to be opening and closing, she said.

"It is cyclical," agreed Fred Hurvitz, Penn State marketing professor. "The mall is still healthy but it's going to have a greater amount of vacancies."

The rumor that JCPenney is leaving the mall for an independent site is "not true," Tarman said.

Following an Internet chain letter warning of a terrorist attack at the shopping center, this is the second rumor involving the mall within the last year. The chain letter was serious enough to warrant FBI involvement.

Tarman does not know where the rumors start.

"I wish I did," she said.

Hurvitz, who has lived in the area all his life and was once a business owner, cannot recall the mall ever looking so empty.

"They will increase occupancy in the future but there is new pressure on them," he said.

David Schoenholtz, owner of Irving's, 110 E. College Ave., and The Green Bowl, 131 W. Beaver Ave., said one of the reasons the mall is experiencing trouble is because retail space has gotten ahead of the actual number of residents.

"State College is a hard place to do business . . . successfully," he said.

Hurvitz agreed. "There's an over saturation of retail space in the area. A good amount is available and some of these power-centers with the category killers provide good competition," he said.

Category killers are stores, such as Circuit City, which carry a huge selection of one kind of product, Hurvitz said.

"Because of all the competition, it takes something away from the mall," he said.

The downtown area is another major source of competition, especially since many students do not have cars.

"There's a lot of nicer stores in town now," said Abbey Feller (senior-speech communication). "Students don't feel they have to go all the way out there."

Claude Monique Viard (junior-English) offered an explanation as to why the mall may be suffering.

"The mall here seems like it's targeted more for the local community than for PSU students," she said.

Hurvitz said the mall is not fully dependent on students.

"The mall is always going to depend on the local community; that's where their advantage is," he said.

The Nittany Mall remains the only mall in Centre County. The next closest mall is in Altoona.