Pizzicato at the Moorestown Mall will soon close its doors, according to a representative for mall owner PREIT (Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust), who said the closure is part of the mall’s “overall remerchandising strategy.”

Judith Trias, PREIT’s vice president of retail marketing, said the decision to close Pizzicato was made mutually between the restaurant and PREIT.

Though the Italian restaurant is still open for business, Trias said it would probably close within this quarter. PREIT is already involved in negotiations with another restaurant to replace Pizzicato, she said, but could not say how long the property—located outside the mall building, near Boscov’s—might be vacant.

“Obviously we’d like to have a site down for as short a time as possible,” she said.

She would not name the restaurant PREIT is negotiating with.

Trias said the restaurant that will replace Pizzicato will not serve alcohol, but explained the decision to close the Italian restaurant is tied in to PREIT’s efforts to revitalize the Moorestown Mall with the addition of four liquor-serving restaurants and an expanded theater.

Pizzicato opened at the Moorestown Mall in December 2010. There are two other Pizzicato locations in Old City in Philadelphia and Marlton. 

Pizzicato spokesperson Regina Duva said the restaurant continues to have success at those locations, but said the Moorestown establishment didn't catch on the way they'd hoped it would. 

"It's kind of been a mystery to us, too," she said.