Three stores closing at DeSoto Square mall

 As dismal retail conditions continue nationwide, three stores at the DeSoto Square mall are scheduled to close.

Corporate and mall officials Wednesday confirmed Old Navy, Waldenbooks and Lady Footlocker will close by the end of the month.

DeSoto Square mall spokeswoman Kimbra Hennessy said the last day of business for Waldenbooks is Jan. 24. Old Navy’s last day will be Jan. 26, and Lady Foot Locker will close Jan. 31.

The scheduled closings come at a time when U.S. retailers saw sales drop by 2.7percent in December, the sixth straight month of sales declines.

“Given the challenging economic environment, these closings aren’t surprising,” said Les Morris, spokesperson for Simon Property Group, which owns De-Soto Square mall. “All three closings are due to corporate decisions.”

At the DeSoto Square mall on Wednesday morning, closing signs were posted throughout Waldenbooks, whose parent company is Borders Group, Inc.

Bonnie Schmick, spokeswoman for Borders, said the Waldenbooks was an underperforming store.

“It’s closing as part of our previously announced initiative to right-size the Waldenbooks segment by closing underperforming stores,” Schmick said. 

In March 2007, Borders announced it was planning to close 250 underperforming Waldenbooks over a two-year period. Waldenbooks closed 124 stores from the fourth quarter of 2006 through 2007.

Borders Group Inc. reported an 11.7 percent decline in its holiday sales for the nine-week period ending Jan. 3. Schmick said each store usually has about 10 employees.

“We certainly will make every effort to place qualified employees at a nearby Waldenbooks or Borders store,” Schmick said.

No closing signs were posted at the Old Navy on Wednesday, however, there was limited inventory on the sales floor.

Several shelves and display tables were vacant near the back of the store and clearance signs of up to 75 percent off were posted through much of the store.

Reasons for Old Navy’s closing weren’t disclosed by Catherine Rhoades, spokeswoman for Gap Inc., which owns Gap, Old Navy and Banana Republic.

Also, Rhoades would not disclose how many employees work at the Old Navy. 

However, she said performance, the number of stores on the market and lease terms are common factors that lead to a store closing.

Rick McAllister, president of the Florida Retail Federation, said closing underperforming stores has always been a common practice by corporations, regardless of the economy. 

“Typically, that’s OK because they’re opening a similar number of stores elsewhere,” McAllister said. “But what you’ll see in this economy is retailers being more careful about the number of stores they’re opening.”

Store closures in a mall can often be due to costly lease terms, he said.

“What you see in a lot of mall situations is the lease factors,” McAllister said. “A lot of those contracts were made when times were booming, now retailers are asking malls what these leases should be.”

Simon Property Group and mall officials wouldn’t discuss specifics regarding leases at the DeSoto Square mall.

Morris said most of Simon’s 164 regional malls had an average occupancy rate of 92.5percent.

According to Hennessy, the DeSoto Square mall has at least 100 shops.

“Our retailer mix remains strong at DeSoto Square mall and we will fill the space with interesting and compelling retail concepts that will further enhance the shopping experience at DeSoto Square mall,” she said.