National clothing chain Goody’s will return to Vicksburg this spring as part of Vicksburg Mall’s continuing redevelopment, officials with the chain and the mall said Tuesday.

Part of the Stage Stores family of moderately priced apparel retailers, Goody’s plans to open April 7 in 18,000 square feet of anchor space next to the mall’s management offices. Two previous Goody’s locations operated in the former Pemberton Square mall, from 1994 to 1997 and from 2000 to 2002 in the spot where the new store will open.

“We’re going to have apparel for the whole family — accessories, jewelry, misses sportswear, men’s wear,” said Stage Stores spokesman Bob Aronson. “We have a nice array of products in our stores.”

Aronson said the Vicksburg store is the company’s first Goody’s in Mississippi since Houston-based Stage purchased the brand name in July 2009, six months after Goody’s Family Clothing filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Stage re-opened 26 former Goody’s stores in fiscal 2010 and plans the same for more than 110 locations in 2011. Stage owns 21 stores in Mississippi, eight as Stage locations and 13 with the Peebles brand name.

Officials Tuesday said the number of employees who will be hired has not been determined.

Nationwide, the company operates 789 stores under five nameplates — Stage, Goody’s, Peebles, Bealls and Palais Royal. Total sales at Stage stores reached $1.39 billion in 2010, up from $1.36 billion in 2009.

Excluding the mall’s three main anchors — Dillard’s, Belk and JCPenney — the space beside the management office is the largest inside the mall and most recently was home to National Furniture Liquidators and Hudson’s Dirt Cheap. In October, Houston-based Weiner Development purchased the mall from CBL & Associates and bought out the old Kroger supermarket for undisclosed sums. Developers plan three new stores per year in the mall in the next three years to reach capacity, along with marketing much of the retail space for such professional services as orthodontists and tax offices.

Empty space near Wilcox Theaters, once home to an Arby’s, is being marketed as a snack shop, general manager Mike Carlisle said. In the interim, banners were placed above doors and windows where Goody’s will locate.