Store employees are telling customers the 120,000-square-foot store will close in mid- to late January. Some display cases are already empty.

But mall officials say Lord & Taylor's parent company, Federated Department Stores, hasn't notified them that the store will be closing.

There is still a small chance that the store could stay.

The company exercised an option to extend its lease by five years, through Jan. 31, 2011. But the chain has committed to operate Lord & Taylor there only through next month. It opened at Crabtree in 1996.

"They have to pay rent, but they don't have to be open," said Monty Daniels, director of leasing for Plaza Associates, which manages the mall.

If it does close Lord & Taylor, Federated could sublease the vacated space, but the mall would have some say in the replacement tenant.

Plaza Associates has been considering a plan that would eliminate the department store anchor and replace it with 30 smaller stores. If that happens, Crabtree will be left with three department stores: Belk, Sears and Hecht's, which will become a Macy's next fall.

But Plaza can't move forward with that plan until Federated indicates what it wants to do.

"They have not responded," Daniels said. "We would like to know what they plan to do with it."

Federated spokeswoman Sharon Bateman said she had no announcement regarding the Crabtree store.

"Our philosophy is, until all the 'i's are dotted and all the 't's are crossed, we just don't comment," she said.

Tandy Leather Factory is planning its first Triangle store at 6514 Old Wake Forest Road in Raleigh. The retailer from Fort Worth, Texas, sells leather products and accessories such as buckles, belts and saddle and tack hardware, as well as leather-working tools. Its only other store in the state is in Charlotte.

The Starbucks and Pei Wei Asian Diner planned for the old Wachovia site outside Cary Towne Center are still on schedule. The signs announcing the new stores were taken down because the building will be demolished next month. Starbucks and Pei Wei will open in the second quarter of 2006.

Behind Brier Creek in the Brierdale shopping center, Mammoth Pizza plans to open this month, and Cheeburger Cheeburger is about to begin work on its third area store. Construction off Brier Creek Parkway starts soon. The rest-aurant should open in March.

Other items of note: The 12-screen Consolidated Theater under construction in Apex's Beaver Creek Crossing now has an opening date set for May. ... In Holly Springs, Advance Auto Parts is open at 650 N. Main St. ... Triangle Dry Cleaners will open in Wake Forest Jan. 2 at 3325 Rogers Road.