Circuit City in Tamarack Village latest retailer to announce closing

• Circuit City closing

The Circuit City store in Woodbury's Tamarack Village is closing, as are all other locations for the retail chain in the United States. Staff photo by Hank Long

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The Circuit City location at Tamarack Village became the latest large retail space in the city of Woodbury to hold a liquidation sale as it gets ready to close its doors.

Officials at the consumer electronics store's corporate office in Richmond, Va. announced Friday that it would be closing all of its U.S. stores.

The Woodbury location in Tamarack Village is one of nine Circuit City stores in Minnesota. The other area stores set to close are in Burnsville, Coon Rapids, Edina, Maple Grove, Maplewood, Minnetonka, Roseville and St. Cloud.

The sales floor at the Woodbury location was busy Sunday afternoon as all merchandise was marked for clearance. Store employees said the doors would be open regular business hours until the liquidation of merchandise was complete.

Just a few storefronts down the way, employees at Cost Plus World Market were monitoring their own liquidation sale. Earlier this month, Cost Plus World Market announced it would be closing all six of its stores in Minnesota.

Another larger retailer set to close soon is Office Depot in Woodbury Village. Officials for the office supply chain announced the store closing late last year.

The closings are expected to add to the landscape of vacant retail space, at least temporarily, that Woodbury city officials said has been on the increase over the last year.

City officials keeping an eye on closings

In addition to some of the larger store spaces that are currently vacant at Robert Muir Companies-owned Tamarack Village and Woodbury Village, Woodbury Lakes has a few of its smaller spaces that are currently vacant. Salsarita’s, a Mexican restaurant, closed several months ago and its storefront is still vacant. Nani Nalu, an upscale swimwear boutique, opened in late November and was closed for business by the New Year.

Although a dip in the national economy may be to blame for some of the locally vacant retail spaces, Woodbury planning and economic development manager Janelle Schmitz, said Woodbury remains a retail destination for the east metro.

“Certainly we are seeing more (store closings) now because of the economy,” Schmitz said. “But we also feel that we are in a position when the economy does turn around to be one of the first to see the pickup.”

Schmitz said sales at big box retailers like Target, Wal-Mart and Kohls appear to be healthy.

“Our big box retailers as far as we can tell are doing well,” she said. “They’re probably seeing even more of an increase in their activity as of late.”

The city does not keep an official list of business closings, but Schmitz said that the city’s planning officials have been taking note of recent closings and are in regular communication with retail developers about the health and outlook of their shopping centers.

“We have a fairly good rapport with developers like Robert Muir Companies,” Schmitz said. “They have a lot of space in our community, so it’s important for us to keep in touch with them, to hear about their concerns and to make sure we’re on top of things from our end.”

Although the recent round of store closings in Woodbury may be more noticeable to residents because of the current state of the economy, Schmitz said that store closings and openings are part of the business cycle.

And where there are some stores closing, new businesses are opening. A CVS Pharmacy is on track to open later this year on the same lot that a Don Pablo’s closed a little over a year ago. Although the Office Depot in Woodbury Village is slated to close its doors, a Staple is set to open next month near Woodbury Drive.

“It really is pretty normal that you’re going to see businesses close from time to time,” Schmitz said. “We’ve obviously seen a bit more than we’re used to in the last year or so, but we feel we will continue to be a strong retail market.”

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