Amid closures at The Crossing Clarendon, a few other retail shake-ups may be coming to the shopping center.
Florida-based Regency Centers recently ended leases for menswear clothier Jos. A Bank Clothiers and outdoor outfitter Orvis. Both are now closed and comprise some of the five storefronts listed as “available” or “available soon” on a leasing map.
One new addition will be Corobus Sports, moving into a below-grade spot on the same block as the Container Store and Colony Grill. The reported hockey training facility has a sparse internet presence, though its arrival is teased in a press release about the opening of a hot yoga studio, SoulFire Collective.
Corobus is taking the place of Jumpin’ Joeys, an indoor children’s bounce gym that “never got to take off as they opened soon after COVID restrictions went into place,” Regency Centers communications manager Eric Davidson said.
Meanwhile, two spaces listed as available currently have tenants — but Davidson says Regency is just keeping its options open.
One of the “available” stores is the 27,069-square-foot space home to Barnes & Noble. The bookseller tells ARLnow it has no plans to stop operating there and Regency Centers confirmed that nothing will change, for now.
“We’ve been working on short-term lease renewals with Barnes for a bit and are hoping to keep them in place — we love their new store prototype and are interested in continuing that discussion with them as things progress,” Davidson said.
The national bookseller recently started allowing local managers to make more decisions about store layout and products. Some have undergone renovations while a few new locations have debuted with a more “open” feel, creating places to gather for events and book signings, much like independent bookstores.
The bookseller did not say whether it had plans to experiment with alternative store formats in Clarendon.
After a 15-year slump prompted by the rise of Amazon, Barnes & Noble is making a comeback with a new CEO at the helm who helped turn around sales for the U.K.’s biggest bookseller, Waterstones.
While B&N closed more than 100 stores in the last 15 years, it notched a win in 2022 when it opened more new bookstores in a single year than it had from 2009-19, per a press release. Last year, the bookseller opened about as many stores as it closed, around 30, including one in Reston that was heralded as its largest store to open in the last decade.
The company plans to open more than 50 stores this year.
Another ‘Crossing’ listing teases “great retail coming soon” to a 2,000-square-foot space overlapping with an existing Ann Taylor store. Like the Barnes & Noble space, Davidson says Regency is doing “leasing diligence on a lease extension” — marketing it to prospective tenants just in case, essentially.
The parent company for Ann Taylor, which also owns LOFT, and the parent company of Jos. A Bank Clothiers filed for bankruptcy in 2020, resulting in a wave of closures. The LOFT at The Crossing Clarendon closed in 2022 and is now home to The Golden Fox Boutique, a purveyor of products from women-owned and D.C.-area businesses.
The general manager for The Crossing Clarendon previously told ARLnow that Regency Centers is working to “modernize” the business mix in the shopping center and bring in “new and exciting concepts.”
This shift might be reflected in changes in consumer habits, too.
Traditional workwear is going out of fashion and American consumers — while concerned about inflation and trying to prioritize essentials like baby supplies, gas and food — say they are more apt to splurge selectively, on things like going out to restaurants and bars, according to consumer insights from McKinsey and Company.