By SCOTT WEISSER
A longtime Concord Mall tenant will be closing its doors.
Michigan-based Borders Group has announced plans to close 200 Waldenbooks stores next year, including five in Indiana. The Waldenbooks in Concord Mall is on the list.
“I have been expecting it, frankly,” Concord Mall General Manager Bob Thatcher said Monday afternoon. “Even the content of (the Borders news release) indicated this is a trend unfolding over a period of years.”
Thatcher said Waldenbooks has been a part of Concord Mall since the mall’s opening in 1972.
“This store has tremendous longevity and has been highly profitable for decades and a core component of our overall offerings,” Thatcher said. “What it really is is symptomatic of the continued paradigm shift in terms of how people garner their information.
“Publishing and other traditional formats are under increasing pressure due to the Internet and those general trends,” he continued. “What you’re seeing is a major structural shift in Boders’ corporate planning.”
Thatcher said Waldenbooks will close after the holiday season, likely sometime in January. The Concord store has four to six employees, he said.
Around 1,500 positions — the majority of them part-time jobs — will be eliminated with the store closings. Employees have been informed of the plan, and company officials said efforts will be made to place qualified individuals in other positions within Borders Group. Displaced employees will receive severance.
Opportunity?
Thatcher said he has been working to attract a large bookstore and coffee shop to the mall. With the absence of Waldenbooks, he said, there may be more opportunity to pursue and secure such a tenant. With Waldenbooks gone, according to Thatcher, there will be 10,000 square feet or more of available space near center court.
As long as the Waldenbooks stores remain open, staffers will honor previously purchased gift cards, and gift cards can continue to be used in any Borders or Waldenbooks location or online at Borders.com. There will be no change in member status for customers who joined the Borders Rewards customer loyalty program at locations slated to close.
Thatcher said Concord Mall’s Family Christian Stores book seller continues to be a strong operation, with extreme customer loyalty and healthy sales. He said books will remain a staple at the mall.
Thatcher also said that thus far in 2009, nine other national chains have renewed their leases with Concord Mall.
