A sign posted near Spokane Valley Mall's south entrance asks shoppers a simple question.

What brings you today?

Its message hawks the mall's latest attractions from the Nordstrom Rack to a juniors clothing store called rue 21. A separate sign just next to the first poster beckons, "Leasing opportunities are available at Spokane Valley Mall."

About a dozen such opportunities exist, based on the number of darkened retail spaces tucked quietly here and there among several dozen shops drawing a steady stream of shopping traffic on a Thursday afternoon in early August.

At a glance, about one in three shoppers was carrying bags of merchandise as they strolled the aisles, including parents and kids eyeing back-to-school deals.

The foot traffic at NorthTown Mall seemed equally steady for a weekday, as shoppers scurried in and out of a core group of shops along the west side and central sections of the mall. It's a sharp contrast to the mostly empty northeast corner of NorthTown, where a majority of stores on both levels near Kohl's sit vacant. The upper-level corner is especially sparse, with a lone nail shop as a holdout tenant.

In all, roughly 20 NorthTown retail spaces appear empty, mostly scattered around the mall.

A July 8 Wall Street Journal story reported that vacancy rates at malls and retail centers nationally continued to rise in the second quarter as small-store owners struggled with the sluggish economy and as some malls lost key anchor stores in 2009 and 2010.

The average vacancy rate at malls in the top 80 U.S. markets increased to 9.3 percent in the second quarter from 9.1 percent in the first, the WSJ article said, using figures from the real-estate research company Reis Inc. Those vacancy figures, it said, are the highest Reis had recorded for malls since it began tracking them in 2000.

The article said average lease rates at U.S. malls remained steady at $16.54 per square foot per year, unchanged from the first-quarter rate, based on the Reis data. On a positive note, it said most publicly traded retail investment trusts that own malls and strip centers have reported gains in occupancy in the past year, and many national retailers reported better June sales at stores open for at least a year.

General Growth Properties Inc., the Chicago-based owner of NorthTown, Spokane Valley Mall, and the Silver Lake Mall in Coeur d'Alene, says it's taken a forward-looking stance since emerging from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November.

While General Growth doesn't release its malls' occupancy and sales figures, a corporate spokesman says Inland Northwest mall sites are drawing new stores.

David Keating, General Growth's vice president of corporate communications, says the company's three malls here are performing well. "They have opened new stores this year and continue to be on track to open several more," he says.

He declines to say which retailers might be opening new stores at the malls.

River Park Square is 96 percent leased, says Bryn West, general manager of the downtown Spokane mall that's owned by the Cowles Co., which owns the Journal of Business. West says for the store spaces that are empty now, mall management expects several new merchants, most by mid-2012.

Among the incoming merchants is The North Face, an outdoor apparel and equipment outfitter, which will occupy the former Restoration Hardware site next door to the Apple Inc. store that opened last September, as the computer giant's first Spokane outlet. Remodeling work is under way there, and The North Face store is slated to open this fall

Seattle-based Ben Bridge Jeweler Inc. opened July 29 at River Park Square in a ground-floor space previously occupied by The Walking Company, which moved to another mall space there.

Cami Olson, manager of the Ben Bridge store at River Park Square, says the new downtown outlet is one of only two in Spokane, with its other store located at the NorthTown Mall for just over 20 years.

"It's vibrant here," Olson says. "Downtown is a good fit."

Emily Whims, a sales associate at a satellite Auntie's Bookstore store on the second-level of River Park Square, says traffic downtown has picked up since spring. About a year ago, Auntie's took over a River Park Square space formerly filled by the Children's Corner Books & Toys.

"There's definitely more foot traffic than in the spring," Whims says. "There's a lot of browsers, but sales are higher than in the spring." She says she doesn't have any comparisons of how much sales have increased since the shop, which sells only a selection of new books, is relatively new.

One visibly empty spot at River Park yet to be filled is the vacated Abercrombie & Fitch Co. store, which closed its outlet on the mall's second level last January.

At the 1 million-square-foot NorthTown Mall, two of the largest vacant spots that appeared dormant are the former Nordstrom Rack, which moved this past fall to the Spokane Valley Mall, and the upper level of what once held Steve & Barry's, a now defunct national clothing discounter. A locally owned women's clothing store, Red Fox, now occupies the lower-level of the old Steve & Barry's.

Red Fox store manager Diana Na says the shop opened at NorthTown last summer in another leased space, and moved to its current site there in March.

"Traffic's been about the same as last year," she says. "It's picking up now with the back-to-school shopping."

Kari Bug-Wiltse, store manager for the Maurices women's clothing store at NorthTown, says the outlet there moved two months ago to a more central upper-level space, after being located about 20 years in what is now a vacant spot in the upper northeast corner of the mall.

"It's a nice move for us," she said. "We're in the center of the mall now instead of the dead corner."

Meanwhile, the novelty store called Pink Cadillac that sells 1950s and 1960s memorabilia remains on the lower level next door to Kohl's at NorthTown, although retail spaces on the other side of it from the Kohl's store and across from it stand empty. Kay Larson, a Pink Cadillac sales clerk, says the store still sees a steady stream of shoppers and those who are taking their kids to a nearby play area or a separate child care center.

"I think being right next to Kohl's helps us, and we're near the children's play area," Larson says, although she quickly named what used to be in the other empty retail spaces around the store. "That one across moved I think in December. I think it was a children's book store, and Game Stop was next to us and they moved somewhere else," inside the mall.

However, she adds that shoppers tend to seek out their store. "Some days, it's really busy. If they're going to come here because we're a novelty gift store, they're going to come here."

At the 740,000-square-foot Spokane Valley Mall, newer stores include rue 21, which filled a space last September, and the much-touted Nordstrom Rack, which took over a remodeled space formerly filled by Linen 'n Things. It joined other tenants in a commercial strip along the western edge of the mall that houses Old Navy, T.J. Maxx, and Wholesale Sports Outdoor Outfitters stores.

Coeur d'Alene's 330,000-square-foot Silver Lake Mall also has about a dozen smaller retail spaces currently empty. Foot traffic there on a recent Friday late afternoon seemed relatively slow, with only about a dozen to 20 people strolling the mall's interior aisle.

Surrounded by the anchor stores of J.C. Penney, Macy's, and Sears are several common stores seen at the other malls—such as women's clothing retailer Christopher & Banks, Bath & Body Works, and Payless Shoes. However, Coeur d'Alene's mall has some of its retail spaces filled with less common retailers.

One of these is The Huckleberry Thicket, which has one small gift store in the mall as well as a separate, much larger combination restaurant, espresso bar, and gift store that opened almost two months ago. Other spots include an antique store called Americantiques, Bulldog Pipe & Cigar Co., and the Timberline Trading Company, which sells discontinued and closeout clothing and shoes.