Details on what’s to come from the Barnes & Noble bookstore move to Algonquin

WEST DUNDEE – On July 22, the Barnes & Noble (B&N) bookstore, currently located at the Spring Hill Mall (1072 Spring Hill Mall) in West Dundee, announced that after 17 years of bookselling in that area, they will be closing their mall location in order to focus on their new bookstore opening in the Algonquin Commons.

According to a statement from the B&N Spring Hill Mall team, the Algonquin area bookstore will be opening on October 6 and will be located at 1802 S. Randall Road in the Algonquin Commons (between Trader Joe’s and Ulta Beauty).

The Spring Hill Mall location will officially close on Oct. 5.

“We are so excited for this next chapter…One advantage of the move is that our new bookstore will be the brilliant new bookstore design we have trialed so successfully in our most recent new store openings,” B&N Spring Hill Mall representatives said.

“Algonquin will now get the first of these new stores. Including a Barnes & Noble Café and, of course, the best books, toys, games, puzzles and more.”

B&N also announced that until they close, everything at their Spring Hill Mall store will be priced at 25% off, with some items even going as low as having 50% taken off their original retail price.

Despite B&N’s move bringing excitement to some local area residents, others are saddened to hear that one of the last remaining anchor stores will now be leaving the increasingly desolate Spring Hill Mall.

West Dundee Mayor Chris Nelson, told My Huntley News that while it is unfortunate to learn of the bookstore’s closing, there is a reason for why it is happening.

“The departure of Barnes and Noble, while regrettable, was somewhat expected as the retailer has been shrinking the size of its stores in recent years. In nearby Schaumburg, for example, the store went from a large standalone footprint to a smaller facility within a strip mall. Having seen that, we expected to encounter something similar in our market,” said Nelson.

Nelson went on to give some insight about the future of the mall.

“As for Spring Hill Mall itself, we are hopeful that the new owners of the facility will work with West Dundee and Carpentersville to repurpose the area into a mixed-use development that features walkable neighborhoods and a campus-like setting for office and other commercial uses,” he said. “It will be a heavy lift, but it really is the only path forward.”

This decision comes as West Dundee officials decided on July 21 to authorize an agreement with Kane McKenna—a consulting firm specializing in economic development—to assist in the re-setting of West Dundee’s Tax-Increment Financing (TIF) that covers the Spring Hill Mall area.

The mall is also located in a portion of the Village of Carpentersville, which is expected to authorize a similar action.

A West Dundee press release stated that the commercial market within the village is strong, however, “the marked shift in how retail assets are deployed impacts how future plans for the mall are shaped.”

“As recently as 2016, Spring Hill Mall was generating $350 per square foot, putting it on par with a mall like Yorktown Mall in Lombard,” Nelson said. “Since that time, however, retailers like Macy’s have been focusing their increasingly smaller retail footprints in malls that are in much denser areas and that generate much higher revenues per square foot.”

Nelson further explained that by using Macy’s as an example, the remaining Macy’s stores in Schaumburg and Oak Brook generate between $1,000 and $1,350 per square foot, respectively.

“Malls have always needed local residential density, decent traffic and strong local incomes to thrive. In 2021, however, the thresholds for all three have risen significantly, making re-tenanting harder for smaller-market malls,” said Nelson. “The re-setting of the TIF will be a tremendous help in incentivizing mall ownership and future developers to create aspirational, mixed-use properties that add to the prosperity of the region.”

Carpentersville and West Dundee have initiated joint efforts in the form of standardizing zoning, building codes and development standards in order to send a clearer message “of what is expected in future redevelopment proposals and to make it straightforward, and establish a consistent set of rules to make it easier for potential developers to pursue opportunities throughout the 150-acres that make up the Spring Hill Mall area, between the two communities,” according to the press release.

The Algonquin Commons was recently purchased by Red Mountain Group who plan on investing nearly $30 million for the re-development, renovation and re-tenanting/re-merchandising of the 75% occupied shopping center.

The new B&N location will be about 15,000 square feet, according to Red Mountain Group site plans.

To stay up to date on the B&N move and store opening, individuals may follow their social media handle: @bnalgonquin.