Best Buy move,Peachtree Mall opportunity. (Columbus, Manchester: for sale, sublease, appliances)

[Fountain-of-youth]

More than 15 years after landing at 2925 Manchester Expressway to sell everything from televisions and stereos to computers and appliances, retailer Best Buy has made the decision to leave the property adjacent to Peachtree Mall for another shopping area in Columbus.

The Richfield, Minn.-based retailer confirmed its plans Wednesday, saying it will be moving to the former hhgregg store, 2499 Whittlesey Blvd., at Columbus Park Crossing within a few months. It was in May 2017 that Indianapolis-based hhgregg closed the Columbus location as part of a companywide bankruptcy liquidation.

“The new store will be much easier for shoppers to access and will be near other popular retailers in a more vibrant retail area,” Best Buy public relations specialist Katie Huggins said. “It’s early in the process, so we don’t have an exact opening date right now. But we expect the new store will open in early summer.”

Best Buy has done business at the Manchester Expressway property since Sept. 19, 2003. That’s the day it opened the 45,000-square-foot store on property formerly home to Kinnett Dairies and then Parmalat USA, which bought out Kinnett in 1998, ultimately closing it and auctioning off the equipment.

The former hhgregg building, which is 39,705 square feet of space, was constructed in 2004. It is situated in the heart of Columbus Park Crossing, adjacent to a 15-screen AMC movie theater complex and Ashley Furniture and Hobby Lobby arts and crafts stores. Like hhgregg, Sears and Toys R Us both have vacated space in the center within the last couple of years due to financial troubles, with both of those properties still dark.

“It will be a slightly smaller space as you mentioned, but we’re keeping all of our employees, and everything you would see at the Columbus store right now you would also see at that new location, too. We’re just being smarter with that new space,” Huggins of the former hhgregg space, noting Best Buy is always evaluating store locations to determine if changes need to be made.

A real-estate website that currently lists the 2925 Manchester Expressway location “for sale” does not mention Kadie the Cow or have an asking price for the overall property. City records show Best Buy Store LP purchased Farmland Dairies LLC at the address in January 2003, paying $2.7 million.

“Former retail box with high ceilings, excellent visibility, abundance of surface parking and in front of a major mall,” the sale listing says. “There is an additional 2.5 acres of undeveloped land adjacent to the building for future development.”

https://www.ledger-enquirer.com/news...224635385.html

[Columbus1999]

The move can be a good thing. That is a very large space with interstate view. Companies like Costco, Cabelas, and Bass Pro Shops love the property near the Interstate. Should get filled pretty quickly I hope.

[Fountain-of-youth]

Originally Posted by Columbus1999

The move can be a good thing. That is a very large space with interstate view. Companies like Costco, Cabelas, and Bass Pro Shops love the property near the Interstate. Should get filled pretty quickly I hope.

I agree.

[DWColumbus]

I hope it does quickly too, hopefully it doesn't sit vacant for a long time. I believe that cell phone store next to it has been left vacant for ages. Even though it has good visibility I'd be worried about the ease of access of the location with people having to drive down that drive way behind Krystal to access the site. It's not hard to get to, but hopefully prospective tenants will see it that way.

[DWColumbus]

I also saw Kadie mentioned in the article. She has been a land mark for Columbus and I hope they find a good home for her. She definitely should be set up somewhere in Columbus as a landmark.

[SeetheUSA]

Their current location has the absolute worse entrance ever. I don't blame them for moving! I went to the store 1 time and scratched my head over who would've thought that was a smart location. I wish them luck at their new spot, but don't see anyone wanting the location that they're leaving.

[Fountain-of-youth]

Kinnett Dairy didn't have a problem with the entrance. Best Buy didn't either until their same store sales started to dip company wide.

[JayHey]

I don't really understand defending the entrance to Best Buy.

It's inarguably an inconvenience. It's difficult for first timers to navigate to, the offset from the main street is huge and a little confusing, after getting up the hill there's that blind hairpin turn that is dangerous, and it is isolated from other retail and businesses like to be next to each other to drive traffic.

Kinnett Dairy wasn't a retail store and the poor layout didn't matter for them.

I'm repeating myself, but I will be surprised if the next business there is retail without some sort of reworking of the egress. Here's hoping Kadie is taken care of.

[columbusboy8]

Originally Posted by JayHey

I don't really understand defending the entrance to Best Buy.

It's inarguably an inconvenience. It's difficult for first timers to navigate to, the offset from the main street is huge and a little confusing, after getting up the hill there's that blind hairpin turn that is dangerous, and it is isolated from other retail and businesses like to be next to each other to drive traffic.

Kinnett Dairy wasn't a retail store and the poor layout didn't matter for them.

I'm repeating myself, but I will be surprised if the next business there is retail without some sort of reworking of the egress. Here's hoping Kadie is taken care of.

Kadie definitely needs to be taken good care of! With some study, money,and the adjacent land I bet the egress problem will be fairly easy to solve.

[WASwift]

I think this is more about Best Buy "right-sizing" than anything to do with accessing the current building. Most stores sales metric is sales per square foot. The trend is smaller stores to increase that metric. And it's likely cheaper for them to move than to remodel the existing building to sublease the space.

OF course, the less charitable explanation is that Columbus retail is moving north, and Best Buy is aware that Peachtree Mall has some challenges ahead.