Garden City Center, in Cranston, has been hit hard by a string of store closings.

The Providence Journal / Frieda Squires

CRANSTON — Lifestyle shopping property Garden City Center, having been hit by a string of store closures, is making room for at least one hot new tenant –– Chipotle Mexican Grill.

The outdoor shopping center off Reservoir Avenue has lost a string of tenants in the last year as the economy takes its toll on retailers.

The latest to close was the Providence Watch Hospital, whose parent company went into state receivership in June.

The closing followed one earlier in 2009 by another small retailer, St. James Luggage, and a Ben & Jerry’s outlet, as well as two national chain outlets — Circuit City and Linens n’ Things.

Circuit City Stores Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2008 and soon after closed its nearly 600 stores, including the one in the Cranston shopping center. That closing followed one by home goods store Linens n’ Things, which declared bankruptcy in April 2008.

There are no replacements yet for the chain outlets or the Watch Hospital, according to Janice Pascone, spokeswoman for Garden City Center.

“While we are disappointed in the national retailers’ decision to close their stores, we will use this as an opportunity to review our merchandise mix and see what we can add to the center to enhance our customer shopping experience,” Pascone said.

The most recent opening at the center was in May, when fashion accessory store Spangles opened. Spangles also has stores in Narragansett and the Wakefield section of South Kingstown.

St. James Luggage was one of the stores that opened in 2005 during the last surge at the shopping center. The others, Coldwater Creek, Appleseed’s and Papyrus, all remain.

Chipotle, a Denver-based restaurant chain, opened its first outlet in Rhode Island in 2007, in Warwick. It’s planning to open the Garden City location in early fall.

It is one of the few restaurant chains adding outlets these days. But much of its recent revenue increases are the result of menu price increases, rather than diners lining up to eat at its restaurants.

Restaurants are seeing fewer customers this year, according to business research firms, and those people dining out are spending less as well.

Sales at limited-service restaurants such as Chipotle, where customers pay at a counter, have fallen on average by 0.85 percent in the Northeast during the last 12 months, according to Sageworks Inc., compared with growth of more than 6 percent in 2007. In contrast, those same restaurants in the Northeast have managed their profit margins well. Average net profit margins have increased 5 percent during the last 12 months.

Data collected by NPD Group shows the number of people eating out was down 2.8 percent in April, when compared with the same month in 2009, according to its latest available information, and those diners spent 1.9 percent less than the previous April.

A restaurant activity index compiled by The National Restaurant Association posted its first decline in May, after hitting its highest level in nearly a year in April.

But restaurants at Garden City Center, where the typical shopper has a household income of $92,400, are not struggling, Pascone said.

“All the restaurants are doing well — everyone has their niche,” she said.

To be sure, some eateries are offering discounts to lure customers, but events such as the center’s annual summer concert series also help bring in patrons, she said.

“It works, it brings people down,” Pascone said of the series cosponsored by Citizens Bank and Cox Communications. “It would be nice if the weather cooperates.”

One thing no longer working for the center is the sidewalk awnings that shielded shoppers in the “village” section –– the area of small shops on the center’s north end. The Flatley Co. installed the glass awnings, and brick sidewalks in the late 1980s after it purchased what was then a fading shopping center.

Boston-based Flatley sold the 48-acre upscale enclave in 1998 for $73 million to a California pension fund — Los Angeles County Employees Retirement Association.

pgrimald@projo.com