Barnes & Noble closing Arlington store

[Minya_68]

I'm sad to hear this store is closing.   I live over off Monument Road and I visit this store often.  To me it seemed to be doing well.  I probably won't drive to the Town Center just for B&N when there is a Books-A-Million it the shopping center right next door (Regency Park).  I guess this will be a boom for them.

I'm sad to see the closing of all the stores in the Regency area.  As a resident of the area, I blame some of the Regency areas problems on suburban sprawl.   Contray to popular belief the area is not bad or unsafe. 
I had heard that when the town center opened it would kill almost everything in the Regency area. Regency is only about 5 or 6 miles from the SJTC.  ( When I say Regency area, I'm referring to the whole area not just the mall... the mall is a whole other story.. that is a mgmt problem).  I'm sure Mayor Peyton and his team have no plans to prevent the area from become a blighted ghetto.  It's a shame, I've lived in the area for almost 10 years and in my opinion its a very convenient location.  From my home on Monument I can be anywhere from Downtown, the airport, the beach or even mandarin in 15 min or less.

Since October the following stores have closed in the area.
1. Smokey Bones BBQ
2. Linens'n Things
3. Toy R US  - moved to the town center
4. Babies R us - moved to the town center
5. Marshalls  - Moved store to the beach
6. Sound Advice
7. Bennigans
8. Coggin Pontiac  - Had been there for almost 40 years
9. Carusso Chrysler
10.  Barnes and Noble   

[ProjectMaximus]

Welcome, Minya, and I feel for you. I hope Regency manages to get things turned around when the economic crisis levels off.

It's a little ironic that you say "As a resident of the area, I blame some of the Regency areas problems on suburban sprawl." since Regency's original rise to prominence was a result of suburban sprawl. But it is true nonetheless.

[Minya_68]

I see your point, but how do we reign in this sprawl?   We can't go much farther east.   I guess the demise of Regency is good for the core city.  It might actually spawn development downtown, because eventually people will get tired of having to leave the "city" and drive almost 15 miles to the suburbs for Shopping or entertainment.  If you were to bring back the old jax city limits, there but be almost no major retail shopping center in the city.  Everything would b in the "Far" suburbs, at least Regency is only 6 or 7 miles from downtown.

[tufsu1]

these closings provide a great opportunity for redevelopment....for example, the mall could become an amazing TOD....much like the plan done by JaxPride a few years ago.

[coredumped]

Yep, you can blame the town center for doing this. I don't know why anyone goes there, it's too crowded and parking is a nightmare!

[TheProfessor]

I am sad to hear the Arlington location is closing.  I still think Arlington will always be an asset to the city of Jacksonville regardless of how much sprawl occurs.  The positives are closeness to the beaches and downtown, somewhat of a grid pattern in older areas with lots of infrastructure set in place, large amounts of riverfront land, and Jacksonville University.  With this many positives I think it only makes sense for future growth.  Kendall Town Center is a very nice development and step in the right direction.  Also they continue to build the Marriott Hotel in there.  I think that with a good TOD connection Arlington could be even greater regardless of retail trends.

[RiversideGator]

RSG--  Wouldn't that statement apply more to Arlington 'proper' - i.e. to the west of say, Lone Star and to the north of Atlantic?  The areas further east like Regency and 'East Arlington' would lag further and longer than parts of that 'burb closer to the river, no?

I agree.  It would clearly not happen all at once and some areas would benefit more from the mid century classic resurgence than others.

[RiversideGator]

Regency Mall itself is clearly in need of a BIG makeover.  As Lake suggested, perhaps something on the order of the Roosevelt Mall rebuild would be successful there.  I think tying in some nice residential might help also when the market comes back.  It could be transformed into a new urbanist town center given the right plan and enough cash.

[ProjectMaximus]

I see your point, but how do we reign in this sprawl?  

Yeah, I don't know. Somehow it has to be more financially prudent for developers to build downtown or infill in the inner suburbs. Can the city limit the availability of cheap undeveloped land? Can we offer greater incentives for building downtown? Will consumers stop seeking out suburban sprawling development? I don't know too much but somehow it's got to be done.

Well-planned mass transit could be a big help, too.

[TheProfessor]

It will be interesting to see what happens to the B. Dalton Bookseller in Regency Mall which is also owned by Barnes and Noble.

[JeffreyS]

Arlington has more challenges than some of it's neighbors but many  of the closings have been national chains due to the economy not Regency itself. SJTC has had closings due to the economy. I am just saying it isn't hopeless.

[jandar]

Its not like the regency area is going to go like Normandy Mall did.

A rebuild like Roosevelt would work out great.

But like others have said, times are tough. The Orange Park area has lost Smokey Bones, 2 Circuit Citys, Sound Advice, and a bunch of smaller stores as well.

[nicktooch]

RSG--  Wouldn't that statement apply more to Arlington 'proper' - i.e. to the west of say, Lone Star and to the north of Atlantic?  The areas further east like Regency and 'East Arlington' would lag further and longer than parts of that 'burb closer to the river, no?

I agree.  It would clearly not happen all at once and some areas would benefit more from the mid century classic resurgence than others.

i've lived in "east arlington" for ten yrs and so far they've been only building up the area.  i've always dreaded the miles of kernan blvd i would drive from home to work/unf bc of all the elem/middle schools.  i never thought they would add more shopping centers but sure enough they cleared the NW quad of kernan and atlantic for a "super target" (word of mouth?)... anyways i think that area of eastarlingtonintracoastalwest is always going up making more schools and more school traffic. but thats another story

[nicktooch]

It will be interesting to see what happens to the B. Dalton Bookseller in Regency Mall which is also owned by Barnes and Noble.

heard from someone that b.dalton had everything 50% off or more...