Rosedale's Hunt On To Find Borders' Replacement

The hunt is on at Rosedale Center to find a new retailer to replace the shopping mall’s 30,000 square-foot Borders bookstore.

Borders’ Roseville store at the Rosedale shopping center is one of three remaining stores in the Twin Cities and one of nearly 400 across the country that is scheduled to soon close.

Rollin Hunsicker, general manager of Rosedale, said  his center is concurrently looking for a temporary as well as permanent tenant to replace Borders, which blamed its financial woes on the rapidly-changing book world that has gone from printed materials to e-readers and the rise of online sellers.

Hunsicker, who manages Rosedale on behalf of Jones Lang LaSalle, said he expects Borders will shutter its Roseville store within the next nine to 10 weeks. He said that Rosedale began pursuing contingency plans for the Borders’ space, which encompasses two levels, when it learned the bookseller was in financial trouble.

Hunsicker said he hopes to land a single retailer for the space since the two-level space with an escalator between floors lends itself best to a sole tenant 

Asked whether there is a particular category of retailer he would like to occupy the Borders’ space, Hunsicker replied,” I not sure that we have it locked down to any particular target category at this stage of the game.”  He noted the mall would like to find a tenant that complements the other retailers.

Meanwhile, one Twin Cities’ retail observer said he wasn’t surprised at Borders’ Rosedale closing, even though that is a prime location.

The bookseller had come under increasingly stiff competition from online retailers such as amazon.com, said Dave Brennan, co-director of the Institute for Retailing Excellence at the University of St. Thomas in St, Paul.

“For Rosedale, it (the imminent departure of Borders) leaves a pretty significant gap,” Brennan said, adding that the two-level space will make it more of a challenge to fill given the softness in the retail market.

“But it can be done,” Brennan said., speculating that either Apple Computer or Microsoft might have an interest in the Borders’ space. He added that some foreign apparel retailers, such as Mango, could be also scouting the Midwest for an attractive location.

 Borders Group Inc. late last month announced that it will close all remaining 399 bookstores nationwide.