Add Target to the list of big box retailers causing angst for Chicago retail landlords.
The Minneapolis-based retailer said it plans to close two South Side stores in February, adding another quarter million square feet of vacant space to the retail rolls, according to the Chicago Tribune.
The 128,000-square-foot store at 11840 South Marshfield Avenue and the 126,000-square-foot store at 8650 South Cottage Grove Avenue are being shuttered as part of an “annual process to evaluate the performance of every store in the portfolio and maintain the overall health of the business,” Target said in a statement.
Target still has plans to open two new North Side stores by 2020, including one in Fifield Companies’ Logan’s Crossing development in Logan Square. But most of Target’s recently opened stores are the chain’s smaller format, and most new stores in the Chicago area have been Downtown, on the North Side or in the northern suburbs.
Big box landlords have been battered in recent years by a series of large retailer liquidations, with Carson’s and Toy “R” Us delivering back-to-back blows this year.[https://therealdeal.com/issues_articles/cleaning-up-after-toys-r-us/] The outlook got even gloomier earlier this month when Sears filed for bankruptcy and announced another round of closures.
But it was Carson’s that provided a glimmer of hope this week when it announced it will reopen a location in Evergreen Park — not far from both Target stores — with plans to reopen two more. [Chicago Tribune] — John O’Brien