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The Chicago-based  company that owns Four Seasons Town Centre  filed the biggest real estate bankruptcy in U.S.  history Thursday , but the action should have no immediate impact on how the mall here operates.

“It’s business as usual,” said David Huesser , the mall’s senior general manager . “Retailers are open for business. ... Customers will not see any changes in the shopping center.”

Real estate and business experts agree, but they add that in the long term the bankruptcy filing by General Growth Properties  could increase the chances that the mall will be put up for sale.

“I don’t expect there to be much impact on these malls,” said Don Jud,  professor emeritus of the Bryan School of Business and Economics at UNCG,  referring to General Growth Properties’ more than 200  properties. “It could be that they would want to unload some properties, but that is kind of unpredictable.”

Jud said he doesn’t expect the mall to close. “That would not be in the best interest of the debt holders or anyone,” he said.

General Growth Properties, the nation’s second-largest mall owner, filed for Chapter 11  bankruptcy protection to restructure its $27 billion  in debt. In addition, 158  regional shopping centers owned by the company also filed for protection.

Efforts to reach company officials were unsuccessful.

“Our properties will continue to operate, our employees will continue to come to work and get paid, and shoppers will continue to shop,” the company  said in a news release. “The company intends to work with its constituencies to emerge from bankruptcy as quickly as possible.”

The filing Thursday took shoppers at Four Seasons by surprise.

“I hate it,” said David Campbell  of High Point , who visited the mall with his wife, Linda . “I don’t like to see any business file bankruptcy. The economy right now is shaky.”

The Campbells, who have been shopping at the mall since it opened in 1974 , have noticed how the tenant mix has changed in recent years.

Gone are the Disney  store, Gap Kids , Talbots,  Williams-Sonoma,  Kirklands  and other high-end retailers. And Belk  recently closed the third level of its anchor department store. 

As stores have come and gone, the three-level mall, which boasts more than 180 stores, has not always brought in the same caliber of tenants. In addition to more than a half dozen vacant storefronts, the mix now includes a host of nail, hair, sunglasses and urban clothing shops.

“It’s lower-quality stores,” said Linda Campbell, a retiree like her husband. “They have novelty-type stores and novelty clothing that people our age don’t want.”

Huesser refused to talk specifically about the tenant mix.

“This mall still does a great business for the city of Greensboro,” he said. “We have some great retailers, and we have some retailers that are doing very well. We meet the needs of every customer in this community. That’s all I can add.”

Alex Nguyen , manager of the mall’s Triad Day Spa , said he had not been notified about the bankruptcy.

“I had heard in the past that people were saying it was going to happen, but nothing today,” Nguyen said. “There is little worry. We are the only mall here.”

Real estate experts say that enclosed malls have suffered in recent years with the downturn in the economy and the growth of lifestyle centers such as The Shops at Friendly Center.

“That’s happening all over the country,” said Stephen M. Cumbie,  executive director of the Kenan-Flagler Center for Real Estate Development  at UNC-Chapel Hill . “I think in general, things are going against enclosed malls.

“That doesn’t mean they are going out of business by a long shot.”

Contact Donald W. Patterson at 373-7027 or don.patterson@news-record.com