Best Buy in McHenry to close; other stores will stay

McHENRY – The city will lose retail giant Best Buy by the end of the month, but rumors that other retail stores in town are closing are unfounded, McHenry officials said.

McHenry’s Best Buy store is located along with more than 20 other stores in the Shops at Fox River complex that straddles McHenry and Johnsburg. The electronics store announced its plans to close by Oct. 28 on its website earlier this month.

Best Buy Co. Inc. has closed 17 stores in fiscal 2017, according to investor reports.

The complex has been at the center of store closing rumors this month, but no store closures have been announced for the shopping center other than Best Buy, McHenry officials said.

“I have seen multiple posts on social media that all of the McHenry stores are closing on the north corridor of town,” McHenry Mayor Wayne Jett said in a September social media post on his political page. “DDR is a great corporation, and they are doing their best to facilitate a new leasing option [with Best Buy]; however they are the ONLY business on the bubble of closing. All the other stores are in long-term leases and are doing well. … I really encourage everyone in our community to buy local.”

McHenry City Administrator Derik Morefield reiterated Monday that as far as he knew, no other stores were closing, and that the city would work with the complex’s management company, DDR Corp., to fill the space if needed.

The 30,364-square-foot space will become the sixth vacant spot at the Shops at Fox River, according to the management company’s website.

DDR officials were not available for comment Monday.

Morefield said McHenry has lost retail giants in the past, and it recruited other businesses quickly, such as when Target closed in 2015.

“By the time Target had closed, we identified Big R and got a lease agreement,” Morefield said. “The site was only empty for about nine months while Big R renovated and moved in. … DDR also has locations all over the county, and works with different users and may know who is looking.”

The city works aggressively to keep businesses in town and bring in more, Morefield said.

“We do that every single day,” he said. “Typically as soon as we find out there is going to be a business leaving, we want to do all we can in our power to keep them. If that can’t happen, we work with property owners to identify new users or provide other assistance.”

Assistance can be anything from meeting with potential business owners, identifying potential renovations or building alterations that could make the space more accessible, as well as providing future developers with the codes and processes to make sure the transition goes smoothly, Morefield said.

There aren’t any negotiations in the works for the soon-to-be-empty Best Buy store, he said.

“I am sure if and when [DDR] needs our assistance, they will let us know,” Morefield said. “We have reached out and been in contact. We have worked with them in other projects in that center. They are familiar with what we can do here at the city. We will continue to reach out.”

The amount of sales tax Best Buy generates for McHenry was not available Monday.

Best Buy generates nearly $40 billion annually and has more than 1,500 stores in North America, including large-format and Best Buy Mobile stores, and employs more than 125,000 people, according to its website.

Best Buy has nearby locations in Crystal Lake and Algonquin.